The Galaxy's Strongest Biotic
by FredTheAlmighty
Summary: Leaving this story up for people to read, but it has been moved into a new story on my profile. Check it out please.
1. Prologue part 1

Prologue – Kyle and Lisa

**Authors note: So after reworking the story...I don't know where to put these chapters...so I will leave them here.**

**For anyone new to this story: This and the next chapter are showing the story of SHEPARD'S biotics. I know it is a huge jump in time, blah blah blah. I don't care. **

It is the year 2152. Retired Alliance marine, Kyle Shepard and his wife, Lisa Shepard, had just gotten off the shuttle in Lowell City on Mars. Kyle had served in the alliance for eight years, and he had finally decided to settle down. Two weeks ago, while on their way back to the Sol system, in their small quarters on the ship, the couple had argued about where they wanted to settle down.

"There are plenty of places to teach on Earth! I can get you a spot at any city you want!" he said to her, with a hint of aggression in his voice. He wasn't mad at her, he loved her more than anything in the world. He just could not, for the life of him, understand why the hell she wanted to go to Mars." Can you at least tell me why? Why Mars of all places?" He looked up at her and saw that death glare she always gave him during an argument.

"You know how much I have always wanted to go teach, you know how much I want to explore. Every time I almost got that chance, you got shipped off to some other colony, and dragged me with you." she snapped at him." Mars was the first time humanity had discovered evidence toward another species, and I want to see that! People on Mars want to see that too!" She continued glaring at him, progressively raising her voice. "For four years we moved constantly, every time dictated by you, and now that we are finally settling down, you still want to choose where we go. Do you not even care what I think?" She had started to yell, her eyes starting to tear up, "What am I even here for? Your personal-..." She had started to cry, not finishing her sentence.

He looked at his wife of four years, stunned at his own stupidity. He had never once asked her if she was okay with moving, he had just assumed she didn't care. "Hey...come here..." He whispered. He wrapped his arms around her, cradling her head in his shoulder. "We'll go to Mars. I'll call in a few favors and you can teach anywhere you want, I'll find a guard job or security somewhere. We'll settle down...start a family." He said, still holding her close. Taking her head out of his shoulder, she looked at him and, every so slightly, she grinned, nodding. He readjusted himself and she pulled back, sitting back down. He looked at her, she still had tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry I didn't realize sooner. It shouldn't take this much for me to realize how stupid I'm being." She didn't necessarily respond, just sort of grunted in acceptance. That would have to work.

Kyle was definitely glad that Lisa had convinced him to go to Mars. While not very visually appealing, it was still amazing. They were walking to their nearby apartment, a few minutes away from the shuttle port. He stared at his beautiful wife, watching as her long brown hair swayed back and forth from the pace of her walk. She had been giddy with excitement, like a child on their first day to school, ever since they had arrived in Mars' atmosphere. She was practically running, and he had a majority of their bags, he was falling way behind.

He finally decided to call out. "Wait up!" he said. After about five second he heard his wife reply with a slightly irritated voice, "Hurry up! We need to get their ASAP!"

She didn't slow her pace, didn't even turning her head. Kyle grunted, and slowed down. She could sprint up their for all he cared, he was going to take his time. After stopping at a few stands that were scattered across the streets, he found his way there. He set down their bags and walked in, taking in the view. He found himself in a large room, with a kitchen on one side, living room on the other, between the two areas was a long clear window leading to a small deck area, with a clear door dividing the window in two. The walls were somewhat turquoise and gray mixed, more gray than turquoise though. There was not much on the walls, they were mostly empty. He liked it.

There was a hallway from the living room that lead into a main bedroom, which had its own bathroom, and a smaller, guest room with a bathroom across the hall. This was amazing! He could hardly believe how good his friends from the Alliance had hooked him up. He had to pull a lot of strings to get everything they needed here, but it was definitely worth it. He had gotten Lisa the teaching job she wanted, he managed to get a job as a security guard for the school, though he didn't quite know why the school even needed guards. Hell, the colony doesn't even need guards, there was no violence here at all.


	2. Prologue part 2

Prologue 2, Exploration

**AN: As said before, No clue where to put these, so they are staying. New people: Continuation from chapter one on how Shepard got her biotics.**

It's been two years since Kyle and Lisa had settled down on Mars. She had been teaching history at the school, while Kyle was head of security for it. She had been thinking about her child, what they would look like, would they want to serve in the Alliance? Hopefully not. She didn't want anyone to be dragged across the Galaxy like she was.

Woken from her thought by the automated bell and the kids filing out, she got her stuff ready to leave. She had the rest of the week off for holiday. Every settlement on Mars celebrated the week humanity discovered the Prothean ruins. They held tours of some of the ruins they found, Lisa had received a special opportunity to explore some of the restricted areas with some of the people who had originally found the Prothean ruins in the first place. It is an extremely rare opportunity, and Lisa was very privileged to receive it. They thought that they had explored all the ruins that the Protheans had left for them, but a recent Earthquake, or Marsquake, as some people called it, had made part of a cave fall apart, revealing a new tunnel to explore. They had said initial scans show the same data that the original Prothean ruins showed. Kyle didn't want Lisa going there because of the baby, but she talked him into it.

Kyle just finished putting everything away at the school, and got into his shuttle. Lisa was supposed to be leaving for her ruin exploration. He didn't want her to go, who knows what could be in there. The cave itself had been opened up by a quake, it had to be unstable in there. If they did manage to find something, they had no clue what to do with it. Hell, it could destroy the planet. The Protheans built the Mass relays and the Citadel, there could be something like that In there. But he knew how much she wanted an opportunity like this, so he went along with it.

Lisa and the group had just arrived in the ruins, and had started walking through the new path that the quake had opened up. They had six people: two techs to scan for any instabilities in the cave, one medic in case shit hits the fan, two of the people from the original team who found the Prothean ruins, they were leading the group, and then Lisa herself. They had walked into a large open room, with different tunnels branching out into other areas. There was a large statue at the end of the room that looked to be a Prothean. The two experts leading the group addressed the group, telling them to stay there. The techs scanned all the tunnels. All the tunnels were joined together, like a maze, but there were rooms branching off from some of them. Everywhere was stable, so everyone split up and started looking around.

This was amazing! She could hardly believe that she would have this opportunity, and the fact that they found previous Prothean tunnels and statues was stunning. Too caught up in thought to realize it, a faint glow from behind a rocky wall emerged. She only noticed when the wall started to crumble, and she got knocked down from something at her feet. Rocks were being pulled towards whatever was on the other side, slowly moving faster. Eventually she started getting pulled in herself. She started to yell for help, when she saw what was behind the wall. A large, circular, object that looked like obsidian surrounded in a green aura. Eezo? No, element zero was blue. She was about to yell when the object exploded, sending her flying into the wall, the aura surrounding the object transferring over to her. She saw visions of some weird species, hurling objects with that green aura she saw earlier. She was in immense pain, and finally passed out when the whole team was rushing into the room. The medic pulled up his omni tool and called for a shuttle to the hospital outside the cave.

"Shit has definitely hit the fan!" someone yelled. "Shes been exposed to element zero!" a tech called out after his scan.

Hours passed, Kyle had rushed to the hospital, cursing himself for letting her go on her stupid exploration. The doctors had told him she was exposed to some variation of element zero, she appears to be having some sort of dream, likely a nightmare from her brain activity. She had also broken her right arm, along with fracturing her leg, from what the doctors said was an explosion. Why the hell were there explosives in there? He hated himself for letting her go. The doctors did not mention anything about the baby, and they left before he could ask.

Hours that felt like days passed, and he was finally told that she was awake. He walked to the door and before opening it he heard yelling.

"My child is going to WHAT?" Expecting the worse he opened the door and walked in and saw Lisa laying down, with a nurse talking to her. "You and your child were exposed to a very rare form of element zero. Your daughter is going to be a biotic, a very strong one as it seems." "What about her?" Kyle asked, nodding to his wife. "Yes...we have some bad news. Had she been exposed to the element zero we normally see, we would have a treatment plan. But this..stuff... we have never seen. We only know that it is element zero because of Asari records. They found it on a very remote planet in some ruins, and everyone who was thought to be exposed were killed within minutes. There are some Asari scientists heading to the Sol system as we speak to give us more information, but from what we can tell this is the same thing, in a much minor case. We are clueless on to how to cure it, and as far as what the problem is, it appears to be deterioration in the brain...I am very sorry."

Kyle was speechless, Lisa had started crying. Kyle pulled the doctor to the side and looked at her.

"How long?" he whispered. "We don't know. The Asari will help us set a time. She is very, very lucky to be alive. From what we can tell, she could live for possibly twenty years with enough care, but she would spend most of her life in bed, requiring constant care." "Twenty years? Why did the Asari die within minutes?" he asked.

"The Asari were exposed to considerably more than Lisa was, and she was also exposed to a much lighter version of this weird eezo, closer to the eezo we deal with nowadays." Sighing, Kyle dismissed the nurse and walked to his wife.

"How are you feeling?" he said. "There was an artifact there." she said, ignoring his question. "A wall started crumbling and pulling everything towards it. Eventually it pulled me in too. There was a green aura around it. It pulled me closer and it exploded, it knocked me into the wall. It burned some vision into my head, I don't know what it is. There are some...people...using the same aura. It got blurry after that." Stunned, Kyle responded with a whisper, "Alright. Just get some sleep and we can talk later. I'll be here."

After a few weeks, Lisa was released from the hospital, and told to stay in bed at her apartment. She got paid leave from her teaching job, Kyle only went when needed. They were told to expect the Asari today with how long Lisa had to live. Hearing a knock on the door, Kyle sighed and got up. He welcomed the two Asari and led them to where Lisa was at. She was in the living room, sitting up, reading something on her datapad. Immediately cutting to the chase, one of the Asari pulled up her omni-tool.

"The element zero you were exposed to was originally normal, just like the stuff we see today. In the previous case, there was a large deposit of element zero near a Prothean artifact. It appears that the artifact was...charging it, making it much, much stronger. We do not know why or how it affects it, because it explodes every time. It might be intended for Prothean use only, and that is a defense mechanism, but that is just speculation. Anyway, the eezo you were exposed to, the object affecting it was deteriorating, it was about to stop working, so the element zero was closer to the stuff we see today. According to our calculations, you have 15 years to live, if everything goes right. In about five years, you will be confined to your house, and the next five, you will have to stay in a hospital. We are sincerely sorry."

Lisa and Kyle looked at each other, and both asked, "What about the baby?" Both of the Asari immediately smiled and said, "Your daughter will be a biotic. Element Zero nodes have started developing, but they are much different from what normal biotics have. There is literally, element zero radiating out of her. She will be one of, if not the, strongest biotic in the galaxy has seen. There were no negative effects from her exposure, she will be healthy."

Smiling, Kyle asked, "What about Lisa? Is she...a biotic?" Her smile slightly fading, the Asari said, "Well...In theory, yes. She is now a biotic...but it would very dangerous to try to utilize them." Looking at Lisa, she continued, "Your body has adapted life without biotics, using them would require adaptation, and it could, quite literally, rip you apart from the inside. As you can probably guess, we recommend not even attempting to use them."

Noticing the shock on Lisa's face, the Asari finished with, "Your daughter is in no danger. She will be born with her biotic abilities and they she will adapt to them as any biotic child would."

Kyle and Lisa talked with the Asari for a few more minutes and then escorted them to the door. They had suggested moving to a different colony, Mindoir, the hospital there was more well equipped to aid Lisa in case something happened to her, and Kyle could get a security position at the colony. The colony welcomed guards with open arms, they were near the edge of Terminus systems and could always use help. Kyle and Lisa said they would think it over.


	3. Clarification for the jump in time

So this is here for those who are new to the story, and read chapters 1 and 2 (shepard's parents.)

This story was a lot different, I decided to have a big change up, not even halfway through. Anyway, the next chapters go way, waaay into the future. I wanted to keep the chapters (1 and 2) in the story, but I didn't really have anywhere to put them. So this is just some clarification.

Sorry for any confusion. I'm not sure what else I need to put here?


	4. Chapter 1 - Remake -

**Chapter 1 - Return**

Authors note: Well here it is. So some context: The year is 2183, the year of the events in Mass Effect 1. I will touch on Shepard later, but this chapter will be everyone's favorite turian. He is 27. This chapter takes place a few days before Garrus and Shepard meet. At this time, Shepard would be flying back to the Citadel from Eden Prime.  
  
"Vakarian, get your ass up now... Hey! I'm talking to you!"

Groaning, he lifted his head off the desk. He looked at the screen in front of him. 0800. Sleeping for 10 hours. Great.

"Are you deaf, Vakarian? Look at me!" His superior yelled.

He snapped up straight and turned around to Pallin. He was much older than Garrus. A bit taller too. He was staring at Garrus, giving him a stare filled with hate.

"Yes, Sir?"

He tossed a datapad into his hands and turned. "Your request for the investigation cleared. Don't screw this up, Vakarian." The door slammed shut.

Relief flowed through him. He wanted to investigate Saren, a Turian spectre. Garrus never liked him, always got a bad vibe from him. The Alliance had declared Saren as a traitor, gone rogue. He had always got a feeling like he was dirty in his gut. No evidence, but there had to be some shady things going on.

He had already prepared for the case, he already had a few leads. He strapped his sniper rifle to his back. His father had gotten this for him. A celebration gift for getting into C-Sec. He grabbed his pistol and strapped it in as the door slid open again.

"Garrus. Going somewhere?" They said.

It was his friend, and occasional co-worker, Chellick.

"Got approved for the Saren case. About to head out to the clinic." He grabbed the datapad and threw it in a drawer, turning to his friend.

"Really? He's a spectre, Garrus. They don't hire criminals."

Sighing, he began to walk to the exit.

"We went over this. Is it really that hard to believe something could be up? I know it is, just wait, Chellick." The door closed behind him.

XXX

"Doctor Michel? Do you have a minute?"

The women turned and jumped when she saw Garrus.

"Yes, of course. Is something wrong, officer?" She said. She had a strong accent.

He gave his turian grin, "No of course not. Just need to ask you about a patient you had recently, Krogan, named Nalok?"

She gave a small sigh of relief, and then tapped a few buttons on her omni tool. She handed him a datapad.

"That was one of the weirder patients. I do not specialize in treating Krogan in general, but even when I asked specialists about it, they could not help me. He was acting really strange, very...un-krogan-like. He walked in, threw down a large sum of credits and told me to tell him what was wrong with him."

Garrus nodded, reading through the datapad. Most krogan were shady, to put it nicely, same applies to this one, even more so. He was a suspect in four murders in an alleyway. He was thought to have been hired by the Shadow Broker, but Garrus found a short, encrypted audio file with two voices. One of them being Nalok, the other he knows is Saren, but is still waiting for a sample to compare it to for solid evidence. He spent the last few days following his trail, and the doctor was his best lead.

She continued, "I have seen Krogan before, not really worked with them, but just watched. You know how they are, they are...the complete opposite of calm. This one, he just stood there and stared at the wall when I was checking him. He didn't flinch, twitch, you would think he was a statue if you saw him," she stopped for a breath,

"I ran a few scans and the only thing wrong was weird brain patterns. I compared them to previous cases and all of them were related to heavy drug usage. But I don't think it was, his just seemed too off. Other doctors said no, but I think something is up. I told him about the drug usage and he just walked away.

He looked up from the datapad and nodded. "Right. I assume he didn't say anything about where he was going?"

She shook her head, "Well...Not really. After he left another patient of mine walked in, I looked past the patient and saw Nalok talking with a human, I took a picture with my omni-tool...I don't really know why. I didn't trust him. It's in the files I gave you."

He extended his hand and smiled at her, "Thank you, Doctor. You have been a big help."

She smiled and returned the gesture, "Of course..."

"Garrus." He said, aiding her.

She nodded. "Of course, Garrus. You are always welcome back here if you need any more assistance."

He nodded and thanked her again as he left.

XXX

He walked back into his medium sized office and saw Chellick sitting down. "So are you going to give up yet?" He said, turning around with a grin.

Garrus shook his head and glared at him, "No, actually I got another lead. Seen this guy before?" He tossed the datapad over and sat at his desk.

"Hmm...Not really. Might have seen him walking around before, I doubt it though. What'd he do?"

"Just talking with the suspect, apparently walked away with him." He said, not turning from his terminal.

Chellick smiled and let out a long laugh. "Damn, Garrus! You certainly have some solid evidence here. Hell, you could arrest that spectre now if you wanted to."

Garrus was about to snap back at his colleague when he saw a message marked top secret. It read:

"Officer Vakarian, You are requesting top secret information on a council spectre, and your request had been declined. Please see to it that you do not do this again. - Dava Doctri, Asari Council Assistant."

"Top secret my ass!" He yelled with anger, slamming his fist on the table.

"Spirits, Vakarian what's up with you?"

"The council denied my request for a sample of his VOICE! You have got to be shitting me!"

"He's a spectre, what do you expect? The floor he walks on is practically classified." Chellick said, suddenly getting serious.

"Then how am I supposed to get any evidence?" he fumed, staring at the message, as if it would change.

"You're not. Why do you think they gave you the case?" Chellick said, returning to his calm voice.

Sighing, he fell down into his seat. There was no way around it, Chellick was absolutely right.

"Then what do I do?" He said, near whisper.

"Well to tell you the truth, it's pretty impossible. I do believe you though. Something is up with Saren. They wouldn't give you an impossible case if everything was fine and dandy. I'd say keep trying, work around it. It's impossible, that hasn't stopped you before has it?"

Smiling, he nodded towards the terminal. "That's quite true. I suppose I can at least look for these suspects, try to find them."

"I imagine you could find them in the lower markets if anywhere. We all know what goes on down there," Chellick said, patting Garrus' shoulder as he walked out.

He checked the time, it was late. He grabbed his things and walked out the door to his apartment.

XXX

He collapsed to his couch after he put his guns away. His apartment wasn't great, but it worked. He had a small kitchen and living room, and a smaller bedroom through an even smaller hallway. His hallway had a closet, and the bedroom had a modern gun safe in the floor.

He turned on the video screen and flipped through the channels. Commander Shepard was headed to the Citadel. Didn't she leave the Alliance? Garrus could of swore she left after a mental break down from the Skyllian Blitz. He pulled up his omni-tool and searched her name in the C-Sec database. Sure enough, she left. Except she had a silent return last year. Good for her.

XXX

He woke up to his alarm. Palavan anthem. It blared through the entire apartment and his omni tool, he always fell asleep somewhere new. He stood up and stretched, walked out for a cup of "coffee" as humans call it. He didn't think the name really fit the drink, but damn it was good.

He sat down at his terminal and opened up his messages. Most of it spam, others from C-Sec: confirming that his reports were accurate, blah blah blah. One stood out though, from Pallin. He never messaged Garrus, he barely even talked to him.

**_Vakarian,_**

**_I'm going to keep this quick. I don't do stuff like this often, so don't get used to it. Some human named Shepard, big hero in the Alliance's eyes. She is the reason the alliance is saying Saren is rogue. Of course it's not true, I know it must pain you to be stuck with a case that is clearly useless. I hate spectres more than anyone, but it would be really obvious if one went rogue. Shepard will be at the citadel in 2 days, so find some evidence on her so we can prove those humans wrong. Don't think I'm doing this because I like you, it's because I hate humans and spectres more than anything. _**

**_Pallin_**

**_Spirits, Pallin thought Garrus was on Saren's side. This is even worse. If Garrus somehow pulled a miracle out of his ass and got solid evidence on Saren, Pallin would stand in his way. This gets better and better. _**

XXX

He walked into his small office and set his guns in the small rack by his desk. "Hey, Chellick," he said, sitting down.

"Hey, Vakarian. Get anything new on that case?" He said, typing at his terminal.

"Well I now know that Pallin is on Saren's side, so it's even more impossible than before. But I also have Commander Shepard on my side, who get's here in two days." He said, sighing.

"Shepard? Didn't she quit? Went crazy or something?" Chellick said, turning to Garrus.

"Yea that's her. She slipped back into the Alliance last year. Then she pops up at Eden Prime, saying Saren lead that army of Geth at the colony."

"Hmph. Look's like your hunch was right. Saren is dirty," Chellick said, smiling.

Garrus nodded and grabbed his stuff again. "Yea it was. I'm heading over to the market district. Hopefully I can find something to entertain me."

"Cya"

XXX

The upper area of the markets was normal, but the lower areas were always shady. Krogan and batarians were all over the lower levels. It wasn't Garrus' department to deal with all the dealings here, but whoever's job it was was doing pretty shitty.

As soon as he walked down the stairs, all the criminals scattered. Even Vorcha were there, walking the other way as he entered the room. He scanned the area, looking for anyone that looked like the suspects. Nothing. One of the doors slid open and a Krogan walked through. He had a mask on, and wore the same armor as Nalok.

It was a slim chance, but he had nothing else to do. He turned as the Krogan entered the room. He began to walk up the stairs he came from and "tripped" planting a camera facing the Krogan before he got up. He quickly got up and continued walking.

The camera's didn't cost anything. Standard C-Sec issue. Feeds directly into the omni-tool it was ejected from. The Krogan walked over to a salarian, slammed his fist on the table, yelling something, and turned back to the door he came from. Garrus walked back down the stairs as the door closed and followed right behind the Krogan. He entered the door and saw the bulky figure pushing through a crowd, practically running. Garrus switched into a fast jog, tailing after the Krogan. He couldn't get too close or he would know he was being tailed.

It continued like that for about 5 minutes, just pushing through crowds, Garrus barely being able to keep track. Finally when the Krogan broke out of the crowd, Garrus shot something from his omni tool. It couldn't be seen by the naked eye until it stopped. If it hit the right target, he could activate it. It was a bug, made by himself. Video, Audio, Tracers, Explosives, Remote Detonation, you name it. It was practically invisible too. And it landed right on the hump of the Krogan, there was no way he would find it.

His omni tool flashed twice, confirming it was active. He finally stopped jogging and turned back into the crowd. He had a live feed and location of exactly what was going on around the Krogan.

XXX

He was back in his office, watching the feed on his terminal.

"Spirits, Garrus, you have been watching that screen for hours. Go to bed." Chellick said, beginning to walk towards the door.

"Yea I know. I'll head out in a bit." He said, not turning his head.

"Alright. Cya Vakarian." Chellick said, as the door slid open.

"Night, Chellick."

XXX

He woke up to the sound of the Palavan Anthem, echoing through his apartment. Sighing, he got up and walked to his kitchen. He had only gotten home a few hours ago. He followed his normal routine, grabbed some dextro coffee and checked his messages. He ate on the shuttle ride there, just a small snack.

XXX

"Morning, Chellick." He said, dropping his bags to the floor.

"Hey, Garrus. Case coming along?" Chellick replied, going through a report.

"As well as you would think for an impossible case. I'm going to go over wherever that Krogan went when I wasn't watching today. That's about all I can do until Shepard gets here."

"What happens when she gets here?"

He thought for a bit, frowning. "I don't really know. Hopefully she has some compelling evidence other than a gut feeling. If not...then I guess I keep following this krogan."

"Good enough. That's about all you can do. Hey I've got to go deal with some smugglers, Good luck on that, Garrus." Chellick said, walking out the door.

XXX

Hours passed, Garrus just stared at the screen. None of the places the Krogan went were shady at all, not even worth going to. He had a second view of the live feed from the Krogan, which was about the same.

"Spirits, Garrus, You still staring at that screen?" Chellick said, walking in the

"What else can I do, Chellick?"

"Mess around, Screw off, Spirits, not stare at a screen. Go grab a bite to eat. I'll tell you what you miss."

"I uh...Thanks." Garrus said, moving towards the door.

XXX

He walked down to his normal place to go, but they were closed for maintenance. There was an Alliance coffee shop across the way, he started walking towards it.

He walked in, moved to the back of the line. Every single person in there was human, and each one of them was staring at him with disgust. He just ignored it, and fiddled around on his omni tool. Eventually he got to the front of the line,

"Got any dextro food here?" he said, looking at the man.

He nodded and pointed towards a small section behind a big menu. "I'm not gonna say it's great, but it ain't bad."

Garrus nodded and placed his order. The man walked around a little wall and came back with something wrapped in a weird foil. "You can take it, don't bother paying."

"No, it's fine, don't worry about it."

"No, I'm not taking your money. I hate all these looks people are giving you. Plus your C-Sec. You deserve some respect," the man said, smiling, extending his hand.

He was stunned. He wasn't like most turians, he didn't hate humans. He tried to keep an open mind about them, and this was one of the few times he was glad he did.

"Thank you. Thanks a lot." Garrus said, shaking the man's hand before he walked out.

XXX

He was back in the office for 5 hours now. Nothing happened. He ate his food and left again to get some coffee a while later. Finally he decided to go home. Nothing was happening. He drove his sky-car home, put all his stuff away and set his alarm. Same old routine. He pulled up his omni tool and searched more about Commander Shepard. Might as well know a little about her, she's probably used to people knowing who she is.

He looked at the article page on her. She was 29, two years older than Garrus. He knew about her biotics, but never knew they were this strong. Videos of her at Elysium, a few simulations, and even Mindoir. She was pretty too, well by human standards. Long brownish red hair that dropped to her shoulders, curled in some places. She had...what were they called? Those weird dots on humans faces. Sighing, he closed the extranet and punched a button, killing the lights.

XXX

His alarm went off yet again, same old same old. He performed his usual routine, but made sure he he looked half decent. Today was the day he would meet Shepard. He had no clue what she was like, nobody had really seen her since her mental breakdown. She could be insane for all he knew.

XXX

He walked in the office and saw Chellick turn to him.

"Garrus! Ready for your date with Shepard today?" He said, a wide grin on his face.

Garrus let out a small chuckle as he sat down.

"Shes going to be here in little wh..." He trailed off as he pulled up the feed

"Shes what?" Chellick said, turning to Garrus.

"Finally a break! An alleyway, a datapad? And what is that?" He yelled, pointing to a weird machine in the shadows.

"Spirits, is that a geth?" Chellick said, running over to the screen.

"It would make sense if Shepard's story is true."

"Get over there, now, Vakarian. Don't want to miss your date with Shepard," Chellick said, snickering.

XXX

He found himself on the council chambers level. It was faster and the route was a lot quieter. The elevator would put him right on top of the suspect. He was running across the room when someone stepped in front of him.

"Pallin? What can I do for you sir?" Garrus said, standing straight.

"Are you done with your case? Commander Shepard is going to the council right now. Where is your evidence against her?"

"Against her? Sir, Saren is hiding something! Give me more time! I can prove it! Stall them!" He said, raising his voice unknowingly.

"Stall the council? Don't be ridiculous. Your investigation is over, Garrus." Pallin said, turning away.

He sighed and looked around. Three female humans were staring at him. One of them being Commander Shepard.

"Commander Shepard? Garrus Vakarian. I was in charge of the investigation against Saren."

Shepard didn't say a word. She gave him a concerned, yet blank, look.

One of the humans behind her spoke up, "What did you find?"

He nodded and began. "Almost nothing. It's an impossible case. Everything he touches is classified. I couldn't even get a voice sample. I trailed a suspect for a few days and was on my way to catch him when..." He trailed off, they knew what he was going to say.

"The council is ready for us, Commander." The other female said, nodding towards Garrus.

Shepard still never said a word.

"Good luck, Shepard. Maybe they will listen to you," he said.

Shepard gave a look at her friends and pointed ahead. They nodded and jogged away. She nodded and placed her hand on his shoulder. She wasn't wearing armor like her colleagues, she was in shorts and a T-shirt. She had tattoos? He could see on her arms, they coiled all the way to her hands, some stretching down to her legs too.

She kept her hand there for a bit and eventually let go, walking away. What was that about?

Suddenly, he remembered he was supposed to be trailing a suspect. He jumped into a full sprint, into the elevator.

XXX

He could see the Krogan in the alleyway still talking to someone. Garrus ran out the elevator and charged towards the alley, crouching right outside of it. He peaked in and threw a bug into the room. His other one on the Krogan stopped working a while ago. He looked at the scan. Human, AI, and a Krogan. His omni tool blinked twice. A large grin appeared on his face. He managed to, unintentionally, hit the human with his bug, He stood up and pulled out his pistol before turning the corner.

"Don't move a muscle, any of you. I will not hesitate to blow your brains out," he said, looking over the three figures. The human, who was the other suspect, was standing a way away from the other two, which was the Krogan, and a...geth?! It was white with blue...cord...tube...thingys, and it's eye...flashlight...light...thing...was blinking red. Fast. It charged towards Garrus and he shot it in the head.

An explosion went off as soon as the geth collapsed. Garrus flew into the wall, cracking his head into the cold steel.

Footsteps...Yelling...C-Sec...Geth...

XXX

"Garrus wake up buddy! Spirits, Vakarian! Wake up!"

Groaning, he looked around. Four C-Sec officers surrounded him, one of them Chellick.

He rubbed the back of his head and stood up.

"There was a...Krogan...and a geth...Geth! There was a geth! Where is it?"

The officers gave him a strange look. "No signs of geth here, Garrus. Though there is Krogan blood right here...thats it. Explosion marks, but no shrapnel." Chellick said.

"Where is the human? Did you get him?" Garrus said, pulling up his omni tool frantically.

"No human her- Garrus! Where the fuck you going?!" Chellick yelled at the sprinting Garrus, who was quite a ways away now.

He sprinted away, following the path his visor gave him. He was headed to the Clinic. The bug that he hit the human with was still active. He could be harming doctor Michel, or even a patient of hers.

He arrived outside the clinic and pulled up the camera view of the bug. Multiple men, facing away from the door. He used his omni tool to disable the door so he could open it by hand. No noise. Taught to him by his father. He snuck over to a wall and reached for his assault rifle. Just as he stood up, the door flew open.

Shepard, in casual Alliance clothing, strode in and looked at Garrus, then at the men.

"Who are you?!" The man yelled, pointing his pistol at Shepard.

She raised her tattooed arm and flared green. The pistol in the mans hand flew into the ceiling, along with the guns of his colleagues. Garrus jumped out and shot the man holding the doctor in the head. As soon as the body crumpled, the other men charged forward, only to be stopped by a green bubble. He looked to Shepard who was glaring at the men with an arm still glowing green.

He put away his pistol and walked over to the cowering doctor.

"Doctor Michel, are you alright? Sorry for scaring you like that," he said, helping her up.

Shepard spoke, and Garrus heard her voice for the first time.

"Doctor, are you hurt?" She said with a concerned voice. She had latched onto the doctor's arm as soon as she was up.

"No, Commander, I am fine, thank you. You too, Officer Garrus."

She finally let go of the doctor and Shepard's colleagues started bombarding the doctor with questions, but Shepard just stared at Garrus.

"You came just in time, Commander. It could have gotten bloody if you didn't intervene." He said, unsure what to do.

She let off a small grin, but her face returned to her emotionless stare.

"You would have been fine. Know who these guys are?" She said, nodding to the men on the other side of the room, still unconscious in a green bubble.

"Like I said earlier, I had been trailing a Krogan for a while. After we met the first time, I followed him into an alley. He was meeting with this guy," He pointed towards the ringleader, "And a geth. Geth! I planted a bug on the human before I entered the alley, and then as I walked in the geth exploded. I don't know how, but all traces from the geth were gone, and the only thing left of the Krogan was his blood. I followed my bug and traced this guy here."

She merely nodded. "Why do you want to stop Saren?" She said, as if ignoring everything they were talking about before.

He was surprised, but gladly answered, "Before everything, he just always gave me a bad vibe. What is it you humans say? A gut feeling? I eventually found an audio file of the krogan, Nalok, and Saren talking about something. Couldn't make out much, but they mentioned the Shadow Broker and geth. I knew it was Saren, you can't forget his voice, but when I requested an audio sample of his voice, they told me it was classified. Along with everything else on this case. Which makes it impossible. Which means something is up because nobody in the right mind would give me an impossible case. Plus whatever you found on Eden Prime proves my point even more. So I know he is dirty." He finished.

"Plus he's kinda an asshole." He finished for real.

A wide grin appeared on Shepard's face. She turned to her teammates behind her and nodded to the doctor. They began to walk to the door and Shepard turned to Garrus.

"Vakarian, you coming?" She said, smiling.  
**  
**He grinned, nodded to the doctor, and walked with the group of humans.****

AN:

So yea. Big turn from what the story was like before. Again, I will touch on Shepard's past through her speaking with the crew. Deal with it. Questions, Comments, Concerns, down below. 


	5. Official Story Status section(1 8)

**First of all, READ THIS GOD DAMMIT! THIS RIGHT HERE! THIS WHOLE THING IN BOLD! READ IT! **

**Now that I have your attention, listen up. Anyone who is reading and clicked the next button and arrived here, just click it again, BUT LISTEN!**

**Return here after reading because I will be updating the status of the story, answering any questions, ranting, talking about what I ate today, etc. **

**THIS CHAPTER, SECTION, PLACE, WHATEVERTHEHELL, IS KNOWN AS THE STORY STATUS SECTION! MEMORIZE IT! REMEMBER IT! RETURN TO IT!**

**So you will always know what is going on with the story.**

**Or don't.**

**I don't care.**

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**3/27: Posted another chapter, read the authors notes at the bottom.**

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**3/11: Still don't think I'm going to post consistently till I finish writing the first game, but I had this laying around. Still don't like getting this close to ending my stockpile though.**

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**2/24: I'm done posting for a while. Too much is going on, on top of I can't think of jack shit. Could be weeks, days, months, whatever.**

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**2/22: Posted 14, writing 17 as we speak. Holy shit balls, chapter 15 is a masterpiece. I can't fucking wait to post it.**

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**2/18: Posted 13, writing 16. What's your opinions on me3 endings?**

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**2/16: New chapter. Writing 15 as this is posted.**

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**2/10: New chapter, yay. So if anyone has a suggestion for Nichole's romance, i'm glad to think about any ideas. I've also written up to chapter 13 now, so I'm trying to space these chapters out. Sorry.**

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**2/6: Not going to repeat much, most is on the authors note.**

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**2/1: Posting another chapter. Hope you enjoy it. I am currently writing Chapter 12, and once I finish that, I might start increasing word count for the ones after that. Maybe. Also, think I've decided on the Romance. Once we get into Mass Effect 2, I am going to go more into Nikki, and have her somewhat like a second Shepard. Also with someone to Romance. So yea. I'm not touching into Kaiden very much as well, because I fucking hate Kaiden. Consider it a blessing that he's even in this story.**

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**1/30: I think I am just going to post all chapters in the future at the same time every day. 11 pm my time. Which is Alaska. I've got chapters 9 and 10 written also, working on 11 and onward.**

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**1/27: Posted another Chapter today. Have chapters 8 and 9 written as well. Thinking about doing a poll on the romance thing. And yea. I think that's it. **

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**1/20: So as like hardly any of you probably noticed, the description for the story is now missing Garrus. Yes, it means almost what you think. I don't know who the whole romance side is going to be with yet. I'm certainly not denying it will be Garrus, but my opinions change constantly, and I'm just prepping ahead of time for it, because right now I don't want to write it as a Shakarian fic. That is subject to change. If for say, it isn't a Garrus romance, the new one wouldn't have limitations, like for instance you couldn't have MaleShep/Garrus or Femshep/Joker. (I promise it isn't going to be joker.)**

**On a side note, I really went deep into Shepard's personality with the next chapter, and I really like it. I write everything off the top of my head, and I throw things I like into it, and that is essentially what Shepard's personality and likes will be. Cheers.**

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**1/19: So it's later in the day than the last post, but man. Oh wow. Jesus Christ. The fucking chapter I am writing now is like...liquid dynamite. It is the definition of amazing put into like...a few thousand words. Seiriously. No, but I do feel good about it. I put a lot, let me say, A LOT, of Shepard's feels in there. I still don't know where I am going with her personality. I feel like its...you know like theres calm, normal shep, then there is either enraged/terrified shep. Two different people in a way, capable of switching at any time. For the most part, its calm shep, and uncontrollably switching to pissed/scared shep. Does that mean she is legally insane? I don't know. Hopefully.**

**1/19: Posted a chapter early in the morning. This was an extremely hard one to write, more details in the chapter. Unknown when the next will come out, got my birthday coming up soon and I have some plans for that with a few friends.**

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**1/16:**

**Sorry for no chapters like at all lately. I'm challenged with writers block, mass effect multiplayer, and making a bad decision on the last chapter. The one I am currently working on is a weird place to pick up, and I'm still not sure where I want to with Shepard's personality. The ideas are golden up in my head, but when I start typing, they turn to shit. So just bear with me. I can, however, recommend some stories to keep you entertained:**

**Anything by Ellwyndara, absolutely amazing.**

**_Sense and Flexibility_, by Roarkshop. Words can't describe the pure amazingness packed into this story.**

**_Crimson Depths I: Paragon,_ by JustAFerret. Beautiful example of using the Mass Effect lore to make your own story and not using Shepard. Not to say Shepard is bad by any means, but the Mass Effect universe gives so much potential. Also has Kasumi, which is great.**

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**1/12:**

**No chapters for a bit. The skiing is too good. Also planetside 2. Maybe mooonda**

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**1/8** New chapter posted today. Last one I have saved up so I need to write some more, and that could take a while. Sorry about that. You can (hopefully) expect one either Thursday or Friday, but no promises. Again, on the tattoos: no, not like borderlands. Another thing, If anyone reading has steam and plays games, I'd highly recommend Planetside 2. Free to play, MMOFPS. Conquest style, lots of people. Fun times.

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**1/7:** No chapter today. Planetside 2 has taken all of my time. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe. Saw a few questions about the tattoos: no, as of now, I don't plan on making them anything like borderlands. I like the idea, but I don't really see anywhere to put where she got them that would actually make sense. Nice idea though.

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1/5: ALL THE VIEWS! ALL GONE! NOO!

Hola. So uh, I did it. Took down the other chapters, switched stuff around, and here we are. -3000 views later. :(

No, I don't really care, but that took me by surprise. Anyway, I think I will just keep this chapter in the place it is now, (chapter 5) but if anyone else has a good suggestion, please feel free to leave it.

I have began writing the next chapter, but I'm not too far into it. I want to see how the chapter posted today goes. Yep.

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**1/4/13:** Hi. Welcome. Before I start, if anyone who is reading this hasn't read any of the other chapters, this will make no sense. So read them. ;)

So I took some time and thought about stuff. And here I am. A while later. Yep. So most of you PROBABLY won't like where this story is going. That's a shame. Anyway, here we go.

Mindoir, Elysium, ICT, all gone. Well not permanently gone, but gone in the way I wrote them. The plan for this story is to start with Mass Effect 1, and tell all of those again through either flashbacks, journals, or speaking to other people.

So when you read the chapter that will be posted soon, keep this in mind: The only thing you should know about the universe your reading in (The Galaxy's Strongest Biotic, MY story, not anyone else's) is that Shepard got her biotics from the event on Mars, which I will be leaving in the story, so you can refresh yourself if you feel the need to.

Apart from that, read this story as if you know nothing. Of course she will look the same, have the same name, etc, but I want you to slowly learn more about her as the story goes on. I know switching and revamping the story like this will skew the way some of you read this story, and I apologize for that, but I think this will work out much better.

As for the story, I will switch the point of view between characters, but I am going to try and focus on Shepard and Garrus. Mostly Garrus though. Sorry if that disappoints some of you. I don't really know what else to put here really. I'm sure I will constantly change this when I remember more.

Some context: Shepard is 29. Garrus is 27. Joker is 35, though he doesn't appear for a while. Shepard being 29 is canon I believe, and I could never find an age on Garrus, I found a (developer?) saying he is 2-4 years younger than Shepard. Normally Joker is a year younger than Shepard, but not in this story.

Now I really don't know what else to put. I kind of put a depressing tone on everything above, sorry about that. It IS 8 in the morning, and I haven't gone to bed yet. Don't think i'm going to either.

So whenever I decide to post the chapter, I will delete every other chapter except 1 and 2. So if for some reason you want to re-read those, I would advise doing so. Cheers.


	6. Chapter 2 Remade

**Chapter 2**

Ash and Nikki chatted away, Garrus stayed quiet. Eventually it got quiet and Ash looked at Shepard.

"Shepard, where are we going?" She asked.

"Off to C-Sec. Hopefully going to get that Krogan." She replied, not looking at Ash.

"Which Krogan?" She heard Garrus ask.

What a weird turian. Most would follow orders blindly, won't ask questions. Same with his investigation. His superior was telling him to find the opposite of what he was looking for. This was exactly who she needed on her squad.

"Wrex. Battlemaster or something. Big guy. He's going after Fist."

"Right. Saw him before. He's been at that for a while now."

She didn't continue the conversation further. Just nodded. No point in talking further.

XXX

They walked for a while, Ash and Nikki kept chatting away. They passed through the elevator, eventually got to C-Sec. Wrex was there, towering over some guards. She didn't change her pace when the krogan turned toward their direction, just kept taking her time.

"What is it, human?" He bellowed.

She looked up at him. Two tons and seven and a half feet of Krogan in front of her. He was different from other Krogan. She reached out and grabbed the Krogan's massive arm, a death wish for most people.

"Biotic, hmm?" she asked, ignoring his question.

He pulled his arm away, glaring at the human.

"Not many people are willing to touch a Krogan. Not many can tell who is a biotic either. Who are you, human?"

"Shepard."

XXX

Nikki just watched as her friend chatted away with the krogan. She acted as if nothing was wrong. Nikki knew Shepard wasn't one for stereotypes, always let almost everyone make an impression before she judged. She knew Shepard for a long time. But this was a Krogan! He could bite her head off any second.

"Ah Shepard. I've heard that name before. Gave those batarians a beating eh?"

Her eyes widened and she got ready to dive onto Shepard, waiting for her to snap, but nothing happened. Nothing. She just laughed and shook Wrex's hand. She looked at Ash who seemed to act as if everything was fine. Nobody here knew what she went through, how she snapped before. Most people called her insane, as they logically could.

"Nichole, something wrong?" Ash asked.

She looked at Shepard who just chatted away with the Krogan, and pulled Ashley to the side.

"You know when she snapped right? Left the alliance?" Nikki asked her seriously.

Ash nodded with a blank face.

"Well it was because someone mentioned batarians. I've been with her since Elysium, she was never the same. The most obvious was her mental breakdowns. She was literally unpredictable when it came to batarians. Sometimes she would run away screaming, sometimes she would try and rip them to shreds. This time she did nothing?"

Ash nodded and looked at her. She was talking with the Krogan and the Turian now, still smiling.

"She seems a lot more open than normal. Normally she isn't this chatty to strangers.

"And they are aliens, too." Ash said, turning back to Nikki.

She shook her head. "No, that doesn't matter. She treats them all the same way, lets them make an impression. Except batarians."

"SHEPARD! COMMANDER SHEPARD!" Someone yelled from behind them.

A reporter, camera floating a little ways above her. Ash and Nikki looked to Shepard who nodded towards the elevator. They began walking away and the reporter caught up to Shepard.

They arrived at the elevator and everyone was in except Shepard.

XXX (perspective of reporter)

"Shepard, can you tell us why you are here at the Citadel?" she asked.

"Nope." the women said, glaring.

Sarah nodded and returned the glare. She looked to the datapad and began reading, "They say you left the Alliance afte-" She looked up at the sound of doors closing.

Shepard had backed into the elevator, it was already going up. She stared at the commander, who had both tattooed fists in the air, middle finger raised on both of them.

XXX

"God I hate reporters. Never leave me alone." Shepard said, sighing.

Garrus and Wrex couldn't take it anymore, they both burst out laughing.

"You've got a quad, Shepard." Wrex said, still chuckling.

XXX

After their little incident with the reporter, they arrived at Chora's den. Garrus had been here before. Lots of cases lead here. He grabbed his sniper and everyone turned to Shepard.

"Garrus and Wrex with me, left side. Wrex just do your thing. Garrus, hit them when they're frozen. Ash and Nikki, right side, do whatever. Also, Wrex, don't bother with a barrier. I've got it."

"Shepard you don't have any armor." Ash said, pointing to her arms.

"That's the fun part, Ashley." She said, opening the door. Wrex's laugh thundered out at the same time.

Just as they walked in, Garrus found himself surrounded in a green aura. Must be a barrier. He looked to Ashley and Nikki, both of them had one too. As soon as he looked back, he saw bullets ripping through the air. He scoped in and popped one in the head right away. Wrex charged in and send enemies flying through the air with his biotics, shredding the others with his shotgun.

Shepard flew across the battlefield, diving between cover. She would send out green balls of aura, stopping people in place for Garrus to pop them. Anyone who got too close would be beaten unconscious with her green covered fists. That is nothing like the vids. On the video from Mindoir she was sending shuttles flying, punching through peoples chests. Was this because of her breakdown?

They only fought for about two minutes. About half of them lay dead, the rest knocked out.

"Good work, everyone. Let's go get Fist," she turned to Wrex, "Listen, you don't kill him till' we get the information we need. After I'm done, you can eat him for all I care."

Wrex nodded and everyone walked away. Garrus looked back to Wrex, who looked dumbfounded. "Human's got a quad, eh?" he said, moving forward.

XXX

They found two more guards, they didn't last long. Another two through the door, but they just ran away.

"Don't attack him when we get in here. I'll deal with it," she said, nodding to everyone.

They walked into the room, Fist started shooting. Shepard's barriers protected everyone, didn't even break through. They just stood there, letting Fist fire away. Shepard just looked at him, leaning into one hip.

Eventually his rifle overheated and he dropped it.

"Done yet?" She asked, crossing her arms.

He tapped a button and two turrets sprang up, but Shepard was ready. She moved her hands and pulled them together, somewhat like a clap. The two turrets flew into Fist and exploded, leaving him on the ground. She didn't even flinch during this whole thing, even the most skilled biotics wouldn't last that long with just a barrier for one person, let alone five people.

She kneeled down in front of him and asked calmly, "Where is the quarian?"

Garrus looked to Wrex and then to Ashley and Nikki. Wrex and Ash's mouths were wide open, but Nikki acted like everything was normal. So far, nothing was normal with Shepard.

"I don't know!" Fist asked, clutching his arm.

Her tattooed arm started glowing green and she picked him up by the throat, smashing him into the wall.

"Do I need to ask again?" She said, still calm.

"She's in an alleyway! She is expecting the Shadow Broker but Saren's thugs are there! Please don't kill me!" He screamed, trying to get loose.

She dropped him and turned to the stunned group. She drew a huge knife, even by turian standards, from her waist. Garrus hadn't even noticed it until now, it blended so well with what she wore. It had a black handle, and a curved blade. There were...vein like things...inside of the blade, glowing blue. She tossed the knife to Wrex, who caught it without effort.

"Take your time, Wrex. We are going after the quarian. Join us if you want, just give me my knife back."

"Don't worry, Shepard. I will most definitely join you. You fight good battles. Should be fun." he said, spinning the knife through his fingers.

She nodded and they ran through the door.


	7. Chapter 3 Remake

**Chapter 3 -**

They managed to make it out of the club. A few of the guards had woken up, but they dealt with them pretty quickly. The alleyway wasn't far, Shepard was leading the group. She was unbelievable. She touches people a lot, he noticed that. She grabbed his shoulder when they first met, she latched onto the doctor too. She had even touched the Krogan when they first met.

"Pay attention. She is right over here. Don't shoot unless she gets shot at." Shepard whispered, waking him from his thought.

He readied his sniper and nodded to Shepard, Ash and Nikki waving in her direction from their position.

XXX

Shepard gave the go and ran up the steps, her squad close behind. She saw the quarian, being groped by a turian. She noticed two other people behind a crate, apparently trying to hide.

"Stay here. All of you. Keep an eye on that crate," she said, pointing to it.

XXX

Garrus stopped at her command, but didn't like it. She ran towards the quarian and turian, neither had noticed her. Nor did they notice until she had tackled the turian to the salarians walked out from the crate, they started to fire.

Between the two of them, only one round flew off before both had lead through their skulls.

She was wrestling with the turian. Garrus had a shot lined up but he couldn't risk hitting the commander. He swung for her head, she ducked under it, moving around him while catching the extended arm. She brought her elbow down on it, breaking the bone, then she bent it to her will, driving it close into his chest in an L shape. His other arm had grabbed onto her, but it fell limp immediately. He crumpled to the ground, cradling his shattered arm.

How had she learned to do that? Of course she was an N7, but she had that move broken down to a science. She probably had a thousand more where that came from. She didn't even have to use her biotics either.

XXX

Tali backed up and stared at the women in front of her. She literally came out of nowhere and saved her, killing the salarians too.

"Who are you? How did you know who these people where?"

She didn't move at first, but the women eventually picked up the turian by the throat and moved over to the corner. She dropped him there and surrounded him in a bubble.

"Did they hurt you?" she asked, ignoring Tali's question.

Tali shook her masked head, "No I'm fine. Who are you?"

"Commander Shepard. Are you sure you're alright?" the biotic said, pulling in Tali's arm.

Commander Shepard? The savior of two colonies? Her father talked about her before. He always told Tali that people like Shepard deserved respect. But didn't she go insane? Why was she here saving Tali?

"Yes, Commander I'm fine. I can handle myself, not that I am not grateful. Can I do anything to repay you?" Tali asked, looking at the women. She was still holding Tali's hand, staring at it. She looked mesmerized by it.

Shepard looked up and smiled to Tali, releasing her grip.

"We are trying to find evidence to prove that Saren is a traitor. Council doesn't believe attempted bombing is enough. Is there someway you can assist us?"

Did she already know about the information? She must know, who told her?"

"Actually, yes. Here - let me play it," Tali said, pulling her omni tool up.

"Oh, not here. Let's get you safe first. We can take you to the human embassy if you'd like?"

"Really? Sure," she said, trying to sound enthused. The only thing that would happen there is more racism towards Tali, as if she didn't get enough. Shepard was nice though, she didn't seem crazy at all.

XXX

Ashley nodded to Nikki and they walked over, the turian close behind. Shepard seemed too busy talking to the suit rat to notice them. Garrus walked over to the trapped turian, Ashley walked to the dead bodies, Nichole close behind.

Two of them, bodies frozen in place. One bullet, clean through the brain. Absolutely perfect shot, from a sniper rifle. That turian was a good shot. The other one was riddled with bullets in the chest, from Ashley's assault rifle.

"Now it's my turn. Ashley what's wrong with you?"

She turned to Nichole, who was leaning over her. Ash stood up and looked to the other side of the room. All the aliens and Shepard weren't looking towards them.

"All these aliens here, can we trust them? That Krogan will snap any second, and that turian is freaking me out. Don't even get me started on that thief over there." Ash whispered, still making sure the others were looking away.

"Ash you are going absolutely nowhere with that attitude. They have done nothing wrong. That "thief" is still a girl, who is giving us the evidence we need. That turian is a better shot than you will ever be, and that Krogan...he uhh..gets things done. Don't say anything like that out loud again," the women stopped to catch her breath. Ash was stunned. How could Nichole not agree with her?

"I'm warning you this time, but Shepard would probably have broken your legs by now. Just keep those thoughts to yourself, you're the only one here who agrees with them." Nichole finished.

And with that, she walked away, over to Shepard.

XXX

"Alright, everybody back to the embassy. Vakarian, could you call your buddies at C-Sec and make sure this guy gets there ok?" Shepard said, walking over to him.

Garrus nodded and opened his omni tool. "Understood, Commander."

"Come to the embassy when you're done," Shepard said, walking away with the group.

Well at least she was talking now. She was barely talking to anyone before, now she seemed totally fine.

"Chellick, you there? Got someone I need taken in."

"On my way, Vakarian. Hows your date going?"

"I'll tell you when you're here," he said, disconnecting the call with a grin.

A few minutes later, Chellick arrived.

"Tell me everything, Vakarian." He said, walking over to the criminal.

"She's a weird one. First she seemed very shy, now she seems really talkative. Just saved a quarian, took this guy down in seconds, shattered his arm," he said, pulling the prisoner on his feet, "The quarian gave us evidence on Saren, they are headed to the human embassy."

"Is that it? Come on tel... - What do you want?" Chellick said, turning around.

"None of your business. - Turian, where is Shepard?" It was Wrex, Spirits, he looked like he had gone swimming in a pool of blood.

"She went to the human embassy. Quarian is there. You might want to clean up before you get there, though." Garrus said, pointing to Wrex's chest.

He turned and stomped away, "Pyjacks. Can't take a little blood."

"Who the hell was that, Garrus? A krogan?"

"Wrex. Krogan battlemaster, merc hired to kill Fist. Shepard left him there with Fist, said to meet up later." Garrus said, pushing the hostage ahead of them.

"Spirits, was that all Fist's blood?"

"I'm assuming so, yes."

XXX

The group was walking up the stairs to the embassy when Wrex appeared.

"Shepard," he said, nodding. He pulled out the knife and wiped it on his armor, handing it to her.

"Thanks, Wrex. You are welcome to stay with us. We shouldn't be too long." She said, walking backwards up the stairs.

He nodded and followed her up.

They walked through the door. Udina was there, Anderson too.

"Shepard! Fighting in the wards? Are you stupid?" Udina yelled.

"Just doing my job. Deal with it." She said, crossing her arms. She hated Udina. A lot.

XXX

"And why do you have this monster with you?" He said, pointing to Wrex.

Wrex pulled his shotgun out, putting on his most intimidating look towards the pyjack.

"And a suit rat? Bringing a thief into the embas-"

He was interrupted by a huge flash of green. Shepard charged towards him, barreling a green charged fist into the ambassador. He was hurled out of the room through the big gap in the wall, landing into the presidium water, quite a ways away.

Wrex was stunned. He didn't know whether to pat her on the back, or protect her from the waves of C-Sec guards that would surely come after her. That was her ambassador.

The other human was quick. He pounced on Shepard, locking her arms behind her back, one knee on top of them.

XXX

"Shepard, I'm not going to pretend I didn't enjoy you sending Udina into the lake, but just play  
along until C-sec leaves," Anderson said.

He held her like that until the guards flooded in.

"We have this under control, boys. Go help the ambassador." He commanded, waving them off.

He had warned Udina about Shepard. Specifically told him NOT to piss her off. Of course he didn't listen. He hated Udina just as much as Shepard, but it made things alot easier for everyone if they put up with him.

About half an hour passed. He let Shepard up and made her sit down. She didn't speak, just stared at her friends. Eventually Udina returned in a change of clothing. He wasn't wearing a cast, which is surprising.

XXX

"Shepard, can I ask wh-" Udina began.

"Before you say anything, I would advise choosing your next words Very carefully, Udina," she said seriously.

"I'd advise not assaulting your ambassador for one thing, Shepard." He began.

"And I would advise not being a racist piece of shit. Your a public representative and an image for people. Stupid people, mind you, but still people. Act like it," she responded, coldly.

"Let's hear about the case, Shepard," Anderson said.

"I am not done, Anders-" Udina said, only to be cut off again.

"Nobody cares about what you have to say, human. You are trying my patience." Wrex said, towering over Udina.

"Thank you, Wrex. We met with Doctor Michel, she told us about Tali," she said, nodding to the quarian.

"We picked up Garrus, the turian we talked about, while we were at it. We went to C-Sec and picked up Wrex, then we went and had a chat with Fist. He told us where Tali was, with a little convincing, then we saved her from Sarens thugs. Not that she needed our help," she said, smiling at Tali.

"We were going to show the evidence here until Udina's little show," she finished.

XXX

"MY LITTLE SHOW? YOU-" He was cut off, once again.

"And now we have the evidence. I'll play it now," Tali said, pulling up her omni tool.

"Eden Prime was a major Victory. The beacon has made us one step closer to finding the conduit." "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers."

"That first voice is Saren. I don't know the other one," Anderson said.

"What are the Reapers? And the conduit?" Ashley asked.

"Where did you find this evidence anyway?" Udina asked, clearly still angry.

"I got the evidence off a geth memory core. Normally they fry them, but my people created the geth. We have workarounds for lots of things, especially the geth. I managed to pull some data off before the whole thing was fried," she paused, looking towards Shepard.

Shepard hadn't moved since Anderson made her sit down, though she looked intrigued at Tali's story.

"The geth believe the Reapers to be a race of machines. The pinnacle of their evolution. They hunted the Protheans to extinction 50,000 years ago, and vanished, not leaving any evidence. They think Saren can bring the reapers back, which is why they follow him." Tali said, reading through her omni tool.

"Why would the geth want to reapers to return?" The other human asked.

"Like I said, the geth believe them to be the pinnacle of evolution, but they also revere them as gods. They are machines, they evolve differently than organics, and the reapers must be the highest point. Or at least the highest point that they can think of."

XXX

"That's...a little far-fetched, wouldn't you say?" Udina said, still glaring at everyone.

"It's true. It makes perfect sense. That vision I saw, it was from a prothean beacon. It showed death and destruction, it must have been the protheans...some sort of message." Shepard said, looking up from the floor.

"What about the conduit?"

"It must be what Saren needs to bring back the reapers. Or at least a part of it." Wrex said, which surprised everyone.

"We need to show the council! This proves Saren is a traitor!" Anderson yelled.

"Shepard, let me come with you! I can help you! I could maybe find more information off the geth if we ever need to." Tali said, running over to her.

Nodding, she stood up. Tali was only a kid by quarian standards, but she was very eager. "Of course, Tali."

A loud sigh came from the other side of the room. And that side of the room contained Ashley.

Shepard stood up and whirled on her, "Williams! Is there a problem?" she barked.

"No, Ma'am!" she responded immediately.

Of course.

"Good. Ash and Tali, head back to the ship. You too, Wrex. We don't need this many people attending a meeting."

Ash saluted and stormed away, Wrex and Tali a ways behind her.


	8. Chapter 4 Remake

**Chapter 4 -**

Ashley was pissed off. Shepard was letting ALIENS onto their mission, and soon onto their ship! They would sabotage everything as soon as they got the chance. Even worse, Shepard had made her walk with the aliens too. She did on purpose.

XXX

Garrus was sprinting back to the presidium. He had to clear the prisoner through himself, which took a long time. Everyone else had been called out to the embassies. Apparently the human ambassador was assaulted. Shepard was there, how could she let that happen? She was so concerned with everyones safety. He made it to the bottom of the stairs when he saw Shepard and Nichole by the shuttle.

"Vakarian! Get over here!" Shepard yelled, waving towards him. He pointed to the human embassy but she kept waving him over. Eventually he turned and walked over to the humans.

"What happened to the ambassador? Someone said he was assaulted?" He asked, still confused.

"Yea he was. By me." She said, almost seeming proud about it.

"What? Why? What happened?" He asked, even more confused than before.

"He was being a prick, that's what," Nikki said. That was the first time she had actually talked to Garrus, "He called Tali a thief and Wrex a Monster. And the latter may be true but that is beside the point. He is an asshole and Shepard gave him what he deserved." She finished, clearly enraged.

"What exactly did you do?" He asked, turning to Shepard.

"Threw him into the presidium lake," she said bluntly.

All the confusion that was present immediately went away and he couldn't contain it. Garrus fell to the floor laughing his ass off. If he were human he'd be in tears.

XXX

After about 10 minutes of weird looks, the turian managed to pick himself up and pull it together.

"So what was on that evidence? Did it help?" Garrus asked.

"Yea it did. We should actually head over to the council chambers now to present it. I'll explain on the way."

XXX

It was about a 20 minute ride to the council chambers in the shuttle. It was a little tight, the shuttle was made for two people, but it worked.

"After all of that, Tali showed us the evidence. You can hear the actual thing during the meeting, I don't have it with me. Basically Saren said Eden Prime was a victory and it would bring him closer to the Conduit. Then another person said that it was one step closer to the reapers."

Well that was new.

"Reapers? What are those?" Garrus asked. They certainly didn't sound good.

Shepard sighed, "A race of starships, very smart and presumably very big. They wiped out the Protheans 50,000 years ago and then vanished. You know the beacon on Eden Prime? It showed me a vision, and it was exactly that."

Spirits, that was bad. Very bad. That was very very very very bad.

"That's...a problem. But why are the geth following Saren? And what is the conduit?"

"The geth perceive the Reapers as their gods, the pinnacle of their evolution. They believe that Saren can bring them back. We don't know what the conduit is for sure, but I'm assuming it's a tool of some sort, something he needs to bring back the Reapers."

"Well that is not good. It may hamper our abilities to...live" Garrus said, trying to wrap his head around the idea.

"Yea I thought the same thing. We are going to the council to show them now, but chances are they won't believe us."

That would be as bad as the reapers themselves. It's one thing to prepare a galaxy, it's another thing to prepare a galaxy alone.

"Why do you say that?" He said, hoping she was wrong.

"Do you want to believe it? Would you want to make a galaxy believe it?" Nikki said, looking at Garrus.

Sighing, he knew they were right. Plus the council hates humans, Shepard even more so.

"No. No, certainly not.

XXX

"I don't recognize the other voice. Do any of you know, councillors?" Nikki asked. Her and Shepard were taking turns speaking to them. They had clearly practiced talking like that before.

The Asari councilor spoke, "Yes, I do. Matriarch Benezia. She is a very powerful Asari. Lot's of people follow her."

Great. A matriarch meant she could convince thousands of people that she was right. This gets better and better.

"What are these reapers? And the conduit?" The salarian councilor said, skeptically.

"A race of starship machines that existed 50,000 years ago when they wiped out the Protheans. Then they vanished out of nowhere. The geth believe them to be gods, and Saren has convinced them he can bring them back. I'm assuming he needs the conduit to do it," Shepard said, hopefully.

"No way. Where would they go? They can't just vanish. But we do need to worry about Saren. We can't have a rogue spectre on the loose." The turian councilor said, waving a dissmissive hand.

"Don't just excuse this. The reapers are real. The Protheans vanished mysteriously, you believe they existed. I'm showing you what wiped them out, and showing you evidence of it. You didn't believe me about Saren and look at him." Shepard said, breaking her pattern with Nikki.

"Saren was different. Now we need to deal with him, and speaking about fairy tales and your bad dreams isn't going to stop him." The salarian said coldly.

Garrus saw Shepard turn to Nichole, but she shook her head. In front of them, the councillors seemed to be disagreeing on something. Eventually Shepard turned back to the councillors,

"Shepard, move forward."

XXX

Nikki watched as her friend became a Spectre. People started pouring in on balconies, trying to get a look. They had to listen to the councils bullshit speech about the duties of a spectre, but she knew Shepard wouldn't care. As soon as they leave, Shepard will do things her way. Which is exactly what needs to happen.

"Thank you, councilors," She heard her friend try to squeeze out. She obviously saw through their speech too.

XXX

"This...this uhh...th-" Shepard stumbled out. She was looking around frantically.

XXX

Garrus watched as the commander slumped over. He began to run over. Nichole had managed to catch her before she hit the ground. She was totally fine one moment ago, becoming a spectre.

"Nikki! Is she alright?" He yelled through the noise. Everyone in the balconies was screaming and yelling.

Nikki seemed calm enough, but still worried. "I'm hoping she just passed out. It's...unfortunately a normal experience for her. She has to constantly relive Mindoir and Elysium, and now the entire Prothean civilization," she paused, shaking her head.

"You need to get the civilians out of here. I'm sure they are not in any danger...but she is unpredictable. She could bring down this entire room with little effort." She had turned back to the shaking commander.

He nodded and waved to the councillors, trying to get their attention. They all noticed him, but it was too loud to hear him. He looked to the turian councilor, holding up his arm. He pointed to Shepard, and acted as if he was breaking a stick over his leg. They got the message.

Through all the chaos, the council commanded the civilians to leave, then focused their attention to the commander.

XXX

Nikki stared at her friend. She was shivering, still not responding. Though it was hard to watch, it was normal for her. Flashbacks of her mother or father, friends, all of them. The worst were the actual attacks.

She was still thinking about it when her arm was pulled in. Courtney had latched onto like she did normally when this woke up.

"Courtney, you alright?" She asked, calmly.

"Where am I?" she whispered.

"We were just talking to the council. You passed out for 10 minutes. What was it?

"It was in this room. Protheans. I saw them. All dead." she said, shuddering.

"Are you alright? We can continue the meeting later if you want."

"I don't know. Let's go to the ship."

XXX

"Garrus, take the commander back to the ship." Nikki ordered, transferring her to him.

As soon as the commander left her friend she latched onto Garrus' arm. She looked at him and just stared. Her eyes were filled with fear.

"Uhh...commander...Let's uh...go back to the ship?" he said, unsure if it was a question.

"I need out," she whispered, releasing her grip and walking ahead, though very slowly.

XXX

"Councilors, I don't really know what to say. It was that beacon. She said she saw Protheans being killed, right in this room," Nikki said, head hung low.

"Well they made this room, and she clearly fabricated the rest with her mind. It was triggered by all the people in here," the salarian spat.

Nikki shook her head.

"Listen, I know none of you believe the reapers exist. Nobody in the right mind would want to. But Shepard wouldn't lie. To some, she may not seem like the most reliable person to relay the message from that beacon, but in truth, she is the best candidate. Nobody knows visions and flashbacks better than her. She dealt with them from her birth when she was tainted by Prothean experiments. It's organic nature to hide under a blanket and say everything will be alright, but that age is gone. The reapers ARE coming, and lying to the galaxy about it is no solution." She paused to let her words sink in.

"We will contact you via comm channel from the Normandy in time," she spat.

And with that, she turned her back to the three most powerful figures in the galaxy and stomped away.


	9. Chapter 5 remake

**Chapter 5 Remake - **

**AN: Read authors note at the bottom**

"She was always so cheerful and happy around everyone. You would never really know that she didn't get over Mindoir and Elysium. After Elysium she had flashbacks, nightmares, you name it. She started latching onto everyone like she is now. Eventually she started saying she was fine, which was a horrible lie. She was mentally unstable and things went downhill. Stopped sleeping, eating, hallucinating, that kind of thing. It went on like that for awhile, then she disappeared. Even I didn't know where she went. Then she came back a month later and was happier than I had ever seen her." She paused, catching her breath.

10 hours before, she was yelling at the council. Then she had to help an unstable commander and explain everything to everyone. Now she had to explain why she was like that.

She was at a table in the mess hall with the ground team, Joker, and a few others.

"She was so happy I thought she was still...not well. It was a real surprise, I never really saw her that happy. She was happier than when I first met her, which was before Elysium. She stayed on the Normandy for awhile, then went off again for some covert mission. She came back and was still fine, so we all thought she got over it," Joker said, sipping his coffee.

Nodding, Nikki picked up where he left off, "Turns out she still had nightmares. Very bad ones. She stopping having flashbacks and passing out. But I think she was taking anti-psychotics. We were at the Citadel one day and were in the lower levels. Batarians were down there. She managed to get it through her head that they weren't all slavers. But if one so much as looked at her wrong she would tear them apart."

"You say she would tear them apart. What do you mean by that? Because in combat today she didn't kill anyone?" The Turian asked, curiously.

"I...never noticed that. Not a single person?" she asked, thinking.

"Not one. All knocked unconscious." he stated.

"Well if you fought any batarians they would be splattered across the walls." Joker said, grinning.

"Funny. Anyway, she snapped on a batarian who tried to sell her something. He wouldn't leave us alone. I warned him to back off, and then she broke his legs. I tried to stop her and she put me in stasis. Went to town on the guy, beat the shit out of him. Guards ran over, she just ran. The batarian survived, but he's a vegetable now." she continued, glaring at Joker.

"Then she quit. Just left. Never saw her for two years." Nikki said, sighing.

"Yea. Not even the alliance could find her. They looked for a while and eventually got a message saying she was done. They traced it to some remote station. She wasn't there."

"Thought she was gone. Then two years later I got assigned to find her. The beacon was right up her alley. I found her back on Mars. She was exploring the Prothean ruins that gave her biotics. She was...Normal. Not as happy as she was before she snapped, not as unstable as she was before that. Just...normal. She said she still had nightmares, but that she tried her hardest to get over everything."

"What do you mean "gave her biotics?" Wrex asked, curious.

"You saw that they were green. I'm assuming she also knew you were a biotic?" Nikki asked the Krogan.

He certainly wasn't like other Krogan. Of course he was big, but most Krogan wouldn't follow a human. Or let anyone touch them. Or listen calmly. Or ask be curious about a human. Or ask politely about something.

He nodded in response to her question.

"Right. Watch some of the vids from Mindoir and Elysium if you want to see what she could do a few years ago or when she was still young. But her mother got too close to a Prothean artifact and it activated some sort of defense mechanism. Blew up and hit her with some sort of experimental, tainted Prothean eezo. Shepard was in the womb at the time, and the eezo was some sort of supercharged version of what we see these days. It hospitalized her mother though...it would have eventually killed her...if Mindoir didn't happen."

"How much stronger is she than an average biotic?" the Quarian asked.

Nikki looked to Joker and he nodded, "Infinitely stronger. Endurance, Power, Concentration, you name it. She could bring down this ship if she wanted to." he said.

They all looked stunned, as they should.

"On top of that, she can manipulate mass effect fields in different ways than anyone else could. Not through pure strength, but because she learned them from when her mother was hit by the artifact. She actually learned through visions of Protheans."

Everyone on the other side of the table who had been looking to Nikki was now looking past her, behind her. She, along with the others turned around to the figure.

"Shepard, how are you feeling?" Nikki asked, standing to greet her.

"Shitty. But it's nothing some coffee can't fix," she said, grinning, walking to get some coffee.

Laughing, she turned back to the group.

"She's alright."

XXX

"Shepard."

"Wrex."

"Shepard."

"Wrex."

"Shepard. What?"

"Nothing."

"Then why are you annoying me?"

"Don't know yet." She said, taking out her knife and spinning it skillfully through her fingers.

She tempted his patience, but he knew he could not challenge her.

"Let me see your knife, Shepard," he commanded.

"What's the magic word?" she said, sneering.

"The what?" he bellowed, agitated.

"You really like to dance around the red line, don't you, ma'am?" someone said, sitting on top of a crate. The turian.

"Don't know what you mean, Vakarian," she said, flipping the blade in the air.

"Grabbing a Krogan, chucking an ambassador, annoying a Krogan?"

"What's wrong with those? I grabbed him because he was a biotic, the ambassador is an ass, and...I'm not annoying, right, Wrex?" she said, a wide grin on her face.

"How do you do that, Commander? Sensing biotics?" the human male asked, sitting on the remaining crate.

"It's just natural. I guess the Protheans could do it, so apparently I can," she said, looking at her hand.

"Is that all the Protheans taught you?" Wrex asked, staring at the blade, that was now nearly touching the ceiling with every toss.

"I saw different biotic abilities. When I first saw them all, I could only learn how to do a few of them. Eventually I learned more, but the beacon on Eden Prime helped. Gave me more clarity." She said, returning to spinning the knife in her hand.

A speaker on the wall crackled to life, "Shepard, get to the comm room. The council is ready to finish your mission briefing. We also need to discuss something," Anderson said.

"Great. Well duty calls. Talk to you later, ladies," she said, smiling. They all chuckled, other than Wrex. She nodded goodbye and continued flipping the knife through her fingers.

XXX

"Bullshit, Anderson. This is your fucking ship!" She yelled.

"As of six minutes ago, it is now yours."

"What the hell are you gonna do then?" she barked, crossing her arms.

"I will stay with Udina and help him." He replied, calmly.

She felt her anger slip away and placed a calm hand on his shoulder.

"I am so, so sorry. Try not to kill him. Once I'm done with Saren, I will strangle that bastard with my bare hands," she said, half joking.

He grinned, but returned to his stern look, "Good luck, Shepard."

"Thanks, but I think you need it more than I. Pray that he keeps his mouth shut."

XXX

"Everyone, attention. This is Commander Shepard. Listen up, I'm only saying this once. Captain Anderson has stepped down and I am now the commanding officer of the Normandy. Our mission is to stop the rogue spectre Saren Arterius. You will all receive more mission details in your personal messages in due time. We are heading to the colony Feros, about a week out," She paused, looking to Joker for approval, he nodded.

"And...that's it. For those of you who don't trust me, fine. I don't want you to trust me. As long as we share the same goal of stopping Saren, you can hate me for all I care. We are the galaxy's only hope to stop him, and the reapers. If we fail, the galaxy crumbles. Thats it. Shepard out."

"God dammit I hate giving speeches." she mumbled, dropping into the co-pilot chair.

"Clearly. I don't think I've ever heard such a monotone motivational speech," he joked.

"Uggh. I need more coffee. Talk to you later, Jeff," she groaned, pulling herself up.

"Alright, cya."

**AN:**

**Man I don't know what it is. I now realize I posted that last chapter too early. That was the last of the stockpile I had, and it really messed with me on this chapter. I don't feel like I left off in a good place, and I left my writing mojo there with it. This was the hardest chapter to write. Ever. Of all time. I know it's short, but I felt like getting something out.**

**Of course, no promises: but I would like to think the pace will pick up once I start getting into the missions and such. Again, criticism constructive criticism, anything, let me know. Also add me on origin if you feel like playing Mass Effect 3: FredTheAlmighty. Have a good one.**

**PS: I am constantly updating the do da thing with the story updates! An important update was posted on the 20th and I highly recommend you read it!**


	10. Chapter 6 Remake

**Chapter 6**

They had been flying to Feros for two days. Every few hours, the Commander would make a round of the ship, checking in on everyone.

XXX

"Alright, Williams. What is it?" Shepard asked, crossing her arms.

"I'm concerned ab-" she began.

"Please don't say aliens, Williams."

The women looked shocked, but kept gunning for it,

"Commander! This is the most advanced human ship-"

"Human AND Turian ship," She corrected.

"But now it's your ship! This is an alliance crew!"

"Alliance, Turian, Quarian, Human, and Krogan crew," she corrected again.

"There are alliance secrets here!" she yelled.

"And?" she calmly responded.

"Do you really think we can trust them?"

"Yes. I do. Asari, Turian, Quarian, Krogan, Salarian, Geth, Han-"

"GETH? GETH COMMANDER? ARE YOU INSANE?" She screamed.

Everyone in the garage turned to the yelling women, staring in shock.

"Yes, Geth. But that's not my-" she faked, laying the bait.

"Do you not remember shooting their flashlight heads on Eden Prime?" She angrily asked.

"Of course I remember. Do you remember why they are fighting us?"

"To serve Saren! To help the reapers!?" she yelled, not understanding.

"To find their god. To meet their god. You believe in God, Williams. You're saying if you had a REAL chance to meet him, you would say no?"

"I...But...Commander! They are trying to kill everyone!"

"I know that. Lets say...the Quarians never tainted the Geth's perception of organics. Lets say they never met Saren. They would be open for coöperation."

"But all of that did happen!"

"Of course it did. Which means we need to kick Saren's ass."

"And...Show them we are trustworthy...?" She questioned, unsure if the commander was finished.

"Well yea. But we can't do that with xenophobics like yourself," she finished, walking away.

XXX

She walked over to him and sat down on the crate next to him. He just stared at her.

"What do you think?" she asked.

"Sorry, think about what, Commander?" he asked, faking confusion.

"Don't get coy. I know you heard all that."

He grinned, she knew about his hearing. Much better than humans.

"I'd say you got the point across pretty well. Made her see things the right way. Even I was caught off guard when you brought up the geth. You really see it that way?" he asked, walking over to the Mako.

"Of course I do. They are making a mistake, yes, but we are out here to stop it. Honestly I think they can make a few mistakes after what they've been through."

He turned and looked at her. She had her knife out again, spinning it through each finger.

"What do you mean?"

"Imagine, the earliest thing you remember is being brought into slavery. Imagine knowing your entire race was intended to be doomed from the start. Your natural instinct is to fight it, right? Even if they are machines, they would still combat it, right?" She asked, eager to enlighten him.

He nodded as a response.

"So you push away and fight it off, successfully I might add, and then what? Our goal, as beings, including the geth, is to survive, they succeeded. So they just sit there, with no purpose. Then you're given a purpose, something to do, in their case, meet their gods. Or whatever they perceive the reapers as. You've lived long enough to see how seriously people can take religion, and even anyone who isn't very religious would still take the opportunity to meet their god, or deity, or whatever. They need a purpose, and they have two options. Help the reapers, the chance given to them easily, or join a galactic community. I want them to be able to join the galactic community, but the reapers now have tainted the Galaxy's view of the geth, and the quarians have tainted the geth's view of organics. So someone needs to make a change, and it has to be us."

She certainly lived up to the caring person Nikki had said.

"Wow...I...never saw it like that Commander. It makes sense, though."

"Well then I've done my job," she said, smiling.

"I do have one question though," he began, waiting for her approval.

"Right. Before that, one thing: Don't ask me if you can ask a question. I know you're probably used to strict policies, but get used to mine," she tapped her chin, as if in thought.

"Everyone is equal, but some are more equal than others." she said, thinking out loud.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Nah, nevermind. Saw it in a book. I know it's got some bullshit meaning behind it, about the way parts of my home planet used to be."

"What does it mean?" he asked curiously.

"Well. I'm not sure to be honest. I never got into politics or governing or whatever the hell you want to call it. I don't really know why it popped into my head. I see it like...I don't know. Like, in combat... If I told you to shoot something, you'd do it, right?"

He nodded, still unsure of where she was going.

"Which would mean that out there, you follow my orders, making me higher up than you, and I don't mean any offense in that. But in here, in the ship, anywhere we are not in combat, even seconds after you blow the head off the last enemy, we are equal. At the same time, though you an I are equal, we are more equal than others. Say...Williams. You obviously know that she gets under my skin the way she acts. She isn't equal to us, because she is a xenophobic. I know it runs in her family, and it will continue that until someone makes a difference. If I make her equal, but not as equal as you or me, it will show her...I don't know. I'm not sure where I'm going with this, Vakarian, just thinking out loud. I guess it doesn't really fit the quote."

"I think it fits. Somewhat. You certainly have a different view on things, Shepard. But frankly I wish more people had your view. It'd make this galaxy a better place."

"Well I'm working on it. Looks like I'm one step closer though," she said, smiling at him.

"That you did."

XXX

She was right. She was totally right. He was stunned at how he never realized it, and the fact that nobody else looks like it that way.

He walked into the cockpit and saw the pilot and Nikki.

The pilot turned around and smiled, the other shadowing the movement.

"Hey, uhh..."

"Garrus. Garrus Vakarian." he assisted.

The pilot rose from his seat and hobbled over with a crutch, extending his hand, "Don't squeeze too hard. Brittle bones and all that. Welcome to my humble abode, Vakarian." he said, smiling.

"Thank you...Joker?" he carefully asked.

"Yep." he responded, carefully sitting down.

"Hello, Garrus. We haven't really had the chance to talk. What's up?" Nikki asked, getting up.

"Just checking out the ship, trying to meet everyone. I'm glad you two aren't as xenophobic as the ones out there," he said, pointing behind him to the bridge.

They both laughed in unison, leaving Garrus confused.

"When you've known Shepard as long as we have, you learn to think like that. It can be...complicated if you don't." Joker said, grinning.

"Complicated...as in...?" He already knew the answer.

"Well beside the biotics, she could beat anyone in hand to hand combat. Even Wrex, I'd bet. Then her tongue too. I've seen her talk people into custody, suicide, and giving her free guns. She's also really into knives, as you've probably seen. Even blades in general, I've seen her charge into combat with a sword." The pilot said, moving his hands across some panels.

"What's a sword?" he asked, unknown to it's meaning.

"Oh uh...Like a really long, thinner knife. Like this," he pressed a button and a small compartment launched out from the right side of his chair, "Except longer, to like...here," he motioned with his hands.

"Why do you have a compartment for knives?" He asked, ignoring the sword explanation.

"Oh, Shepard did it. There's a wall over there with guns," he pointed to a wall that blended in with everything else, "But she wanted me to be able to protect myself if the ship was ever boarded. I can shoot guns, but it's rough on the shoulders, most of the time breaks a few bones. She showed me how to throw knives instead." He shrugged, closing the compartment.

"Does she use guns? I never really saw her shoot when we fought a few days ago. She had a pistol, but that was it." Garrus asked, leaning into the wall.

Nikki responded this time, "Not really. She'll shoot people up close occasionally. But most of the time she is either using her biotics or her bare hands, most of the time together, or her knives."

"So knives? She's really into knives?" He asked, as if confirming it.

"And tattoos. Tons of tattoos on her. I don't know how she keeps them so perfect. Any mistake she makes could ruin them in combat." Nikki said, scratching her head.

"Tons of them? Like arms and legs?"

"And chest, face, hands, feet, torso, hips, other places, you name it." Joker added, pulling a red beeping panel to the left.

"Wow. What do they mean for humans?" he wondered.

"What do you mean?" they both responded, raising their...hair...eye...brow...things...

"Well for Turians they show your family name, colony, they are very...precise. If one doesn't have markings they are...barefaced, untrustworthy. I'd like to think that it's different for humans, not many of you have any markings."

"Oh okay. Well for humans it is different, in fact somewhat opposite. Lot's of people don't think people with tattoos are...trustworthy. Well they did a few hundred years ago. Not so much now. But they can mean anything for us, whatever the person wants really. Every single piece of art on Shepard has different meanings or relations to her. Some I doubt she wants to share, some only make sense to her, like protheans. I don't know all of them, but the stars on her face are for her love of space and the stars," Nikki said, sliding a panel of her own.

"Wait she has facial markings?" he asked, stunned. He hasn't seen them before.

"Yep. Her hair probably hides them right now. That will probably change soon." Joker said, not looking up from a report.

"Her hair...that stuff on your heads? And why would that change?" he asked, still confused on the stuff.

"Look at mine," Nikki said, pulling her hair down straight, "It can be black, brown, blonde; which is yellowish, red, tons of colors naturally. It goes white with age. It can be medium like mine, short like Jeff's, or long like Shepard's. Most guys will get facial and body hair too, again like Jeff," she pointed to him.

"And you can cut it, which the Commander does a lot. Her hair will look different every month or so. Either longer, shorter, different color, or a new style." Joker said, removing his hat.

"That is...amazing. How does she change the color?" now heavily interested.

"Stuff called dye. I don't know what it's made of. Some can be permanent, some isn't. I don't know what she uses."

"What was her first hair color?" Garrus asked, still curious on the topic.

"I...don't know? I think it was reddish brown like it is now. Auburn I think it's called? That's what it was when I first saw her." Joker said, scratching his head.

"It was blonde when I first met her," Nikki said, typing something into a console

"How did you guys meet her?" Garrus asked, still wrapping his head around the hair thing.

"Man...I think it was...after Mindoir happened. She handled that surprisingly well, still had nightmares and had a few points where it...wasn't pretty. But me and Anderson brought her to ICT." Joker said.

"I met her at Elysium. We were both assigned there as a final qualification for N7. We just stuck together after it all. We stayed at the same hospital for a year." Nikki said, turning to Garrus.

"Why a year? Mental therapy?" Garrus asked.

"Well for Shepard, yea. She was pretty beaten up, but nothing major. But I wasn't so lucky. Look," she got up and walked over to Garrus.

"Look at my arms. What is the difference?" she said, holding out both arms, showing the undersides of them, side by side.

He stared at them. They both looked the same. Tanned skin, some scars, "I don't see one." He said, looking very hard.

"Look at my left one. See these?" She pointed to blue lines running up her arms.

"These are veins, I don't think yours are visible, but ours are. Look at my right arm," she held it out again.

No veins were visible, it was just...arm. The other arm had long, blue veins running through it.

"They carry blood through the body. Not everyone's veins are visible, but mine used to be. I lost my arm on Elysium. It was...so weird. Undefinable really. I won't bore you with details, but they gave me a new one. Cybernetics and all that. You can't see the veins because it's more...space efficient now."

"Wow...that's...not good. I'm sorry?" He stuttered.

"Oh, don't do that. I prefer this to be honest. It's stronger, responds faster, everything."

"Alright. Well thanks for talking with me you two."

"Cya around, Vakarian."

Authors note:

So, did I do good? I really liked this chapter, along with the few after it. Sorry if there's grammar mistakes, I edited this really quickly because its late. I am trying to write Shepard's thinking and thought the same way I see things, along with things I like. As you can see, I feel strongly about the geth, and that quote just sort of popped into my head. It kinda fits, right? And a cookie for someone who guesses that book. Anyway, let me know if you like where this story is going. And if you didn't see it before: The second character on the story info is no longer Garrus. To put it short (talked about this more on the story update section) I am not denying it will be Garrus for the romance, but it could also be someone else. Thats all, im done boring you, night.


	11. Chapter 7 Remake

**Chapter 7 -**

"What did you want to show me, Commander?" Tali asked, stepping out of the elevator.

"What combat training did you have? I mean close combat, hand to hand?" she asked, stepping to the center of the room

"Not much. They only showed us the very basics, why? We aren't fighting are we?" she said, slightly putting up her guard.

"Good, you can adapt easily to this then. No, we aren't fighting, you're testing out your new knife."

"Oh okay goo-What knife?" she asked, surprised.

"Turn around for me, will you?" she asked, spinning her finger.

Tali complied, still unsure of what was going on.

"Hold your leg still," she commanded.

Shepard kneeled down and started fastening something on her leg, eventually she finished and stood up.

"Does that feel alright?" she asked, still looking at it.

"Yea...what is it?" Tali asked, trying to figure it out.

"It's a knife case, silly. Look," the commander whipped out a knife and slid it into Tali's new holder.

"It should stay in there during combat. The case adjusts to the knife inside it and develops a mechanism to lock it in place until needed." she said, looking up to Tali.

"Keelah, Commander how much did that cost?" she asked, now shocked.

"Pff, I dunno. Got it a while back, never really used it. Maybe like 25,000 credits?" she said, flipping her hair.

"25,000! No way! Take it back, there is no way-" she yelled through her mask, bending over to take it off.

A hand grabbed onto hers and pulled it up, "No, Tali. It is yours now. I have no use for credits, really. The Alliance pays me more than enough, and they were very generous for Elysium and Mindoir. I use credits for tattoos, knives, and some clothes. Please, just don't worry about it." she said, releasing her grip.

"But...fine. Are you going to give me...lessons?" Tali responded, grabbing the knife from its slot.

"Oh hell yeah! Once I'm done with you, you won't even want to use that shotgun of yours." She cheered, a wide smile on her face.

"Thank you so much, Shepard." Tali said, returning the wide smile under her mask.

"Alright, let's start now," she now, somehow, had a knife in her hand, and a large one at that.

"Wait...where did you get that? You're wearing those...short things?" Tali asked, confused at the commander's apparent magic.

"I've always got like...two or three knives with me. And these are shorts," she pointed to the black cloth on her legs.

"Oh...alright..."

"First, well...Most people say there is a specific way to hold it, but I say that's bull. Hold it however you like, just keep it the same way whenever you're fighting. Work off that as a base for offense, make up what works for you. It will vary between races though. I'll go through them all with you eventually. Wrex and Garrus will help me demonstrate. Well Wrex will show you himself. Though I'd advise never fighting a Krogan with a knife." She explained.

"We can get a few out of the way with no practice though. Volus, hit them anywhere on the throat, or in the speaker on their suit, their breathers are normally directly behind that speaker. Elcor... I'm not sure it's possible to kill an Elcor with a knife. Seriously, just walk away, they can't catch you. Salarians...we can still practice but there isn't much to say. They are very squishy, poke them anywhere and they will bleed like hell. Hanar...I certainly hope I don't have to show you how to kill a jellyfish," she said spinning the knife while looking at Tali.

"A what?" Tali asked, unsure of what a jellyfish is.

"Animal from earth, looks like the hanar. I'm getting off topic. Vorcha...I have no clue. I have never actually seen one in person. So uh...just like...throw a knife at their face. I know they can regenerate, so that might be the only way to do it with a knife. Then...Drell. Unfortunately, I don't really think that you can prepare, or even train to fight a drell. They are fast, way too fast to keep up with without years of practice. Had a drell try to assassinate me once. On a "practice mission" for N7 training. My superiors said it was part of the training, but I know that's bull. He was out to kill me. Green skin, black jacket. Never caught his name, but I broke both his legs. I uh...Aw hell I'm getting off topic. That's about it. I'll show you human and asari later...and batarian. Garrus and Wrex can show you Turian and Krogan."

That was a lot of information, but Tali recorded it all, knowing it was going to be a long winded explanation. She wanted to know more about the drell as well.

"Thank you, Shepard. When will we begin?"

"Uh...Well we are hitting Feros tomorrow. You can come with me and you can get used to it there. Maybe on the way to wherever we go after that we can in the ship. Sound good?" She said, flipping the knife into her other hand.

"Of course. Whenever you like is okay. Thank you again, Shepard."

"Don't mention it, Tali."

XXX

"Vakarian, Tali, and Williams. All of you get ready, meet me at the cockpit in five."

"God damn I can't wait to see their reaction to your armor," Joker laughed, flying around a reddish orange gas giant.

"Yep. You said that. A lot. Hey do you still have those knives I gave you?" she asked, leaning on the pilots seat, above his head.

"Of course I do, those things are fun as hell to throw! Why? Don't tell me you need even more knives for this mission?" he asked, popping out the compartment.

"No, nine should be good for this one. I'm just making sure you didn't get rid of them is all." she asked, dawning her hood.

"Garrus was up here a few days ago. Had a ton of questions about you. Eventually got to your hair and tattoos, and knife obsession." he grinned, turning to face her.

"Ooh...what did you tell him?" she asked, staring at him, arms crossed.

"Uh...Pff, told him that you are indecisive with your hair, like knives...had a ton of tattoos...and that you had a thing for turians," he laughed.

She let out a wide grin, but he couldn't see it. She grabbed his chair and forced it the other way, spinning him back towards his board of controls.

"Get back to work, Joker," she laughed, walking out of the cockpit.

XXX

"Is that...Shepard?" Tali asked, walking beside Garrus, with Williams close behind.

"That's my name...What?" she asked, looking at the group.

"That's fury armor, Commander!" Williams yelled, running up to her.

"Nice catch, Williams. Got this a while after Elysium. Didn't really think I would need it on Eden Prime, so that's why you didn't see it before."

"What is fury armor?" Tali asked the Turian.

At first he never really talked to Tali, but now they can both hold a conversation at least. He wasn't like other Turians, didn't assume her a scavenger. Maybe he was with Shepard before they met Tali. She seemed to have that effect on people. She had forced the crew to talk to each other multiple times in the week it took to get to Feros. It seemed to have worked well enough, most of the alliance crew didn't give her the disgusting looks they did before. Not all of them, at least.

"You know what N7 training is right?" he began. She shook her head.

"Some of the greatest troops in the galaxy. It's advanced training in a way. They start by going through ICT, then go up the ranks of N1, N2, N3, all the way up to N7. Takes a long time. And some of them, depending on their abilities in certain fields, are given a label and armor, an N7 Fury is an extremely powerful biotic, like Shepard."

She turned to Shepard who was nodding at his explanation.

"That's about spot on, Vakarian. Nice job. Mrs. Zorah, do you have that thing we talked about?" the hooded woman asked, walking over gracefully.

Her armor was stunning. In a way, it somewhat resembled her own. She had a hood, which she somehow managed to hide her long red hair in, and it sort of dawned over her shoulders, like hers. The colors were...out of character for her for what she had imagined. The hood was white, along with most of the lighter armored areas. Underneath her legs, inside the hood and in her arms were a deep yellow, and the breastplate was a yellow tint.

"Tali?" Shepard asked, leaning into a hip.

She had been staring, dammit.

"Sorry-Yes, I do. Your armor is beautiful, Commander." Tali stuttered out.

The Commander was blushing, "Thank you, Tali. Yours is too," she said. Of course Tali couldn't see her face, but she knew when people were doing certain things. Most quarians did.

"Alright, you three. Apparently there is geth there, so be prepared. We go in and find the colonists, see if they are alright. Our main objective is to find out whatever the hell Saren did there," she turned to the pilot, "Joker! Take us in!"

"Understood, Commander."

AN:

Hope you enjoyed. Questions:

Would you want examples of what Shepard looks like? Like pictures? Of like...people? Yea. Just yea. So tell me if you do. Because I can do that.

Also, still thinking about the whole romance thingy. I'm considering a...poll? Sound like a good idea? Let me know.


	12. Chapter 8 Remake

**Chapter 8 remake**

"Speak to our leader, Fai Dan. He wil-UNGH!," He was interrupted by a shot in the back from a geth trooper.

Tali readied her shotgun, along with Garrus and Ashley, but before they had unfolded them the Geth had a knife in it's "eye". Shepard was on the ground, applying medi gel to the man, but it wasn't enough.

"Severed the spine. He's gone. Let's go."

XXX

"Commander...I don't think...that's a plant.." Garrus said, staring at the beast.

"Fuck! Goddammit! Does every single thing have to be so complicated?"

"Shepard...what is it doing?" Williams asked, pointing to its "mouth"

"Its...puking? Oh that's great. Christ, just shoot the damn thing!" She yelled.

"It's an Asari," Garrus pointed out.

She gave a long speech about thorian bullshit, eventually she attacked the squad.

"Now, We fight! You will-" A ball of green aura hit her directly in the chest, sending her backwards, into the pit.

"She talks too much. Come on, let's find someway to send this this thing to hell," Shepard said, walking the other direction.

XXX

It was simple enough fighting through the tower. Waves of thorian creepers swarmed them, but the group managed to kill them before they got too close. Shepard was astounding, she was crushing them 10 at a time. Williams stayed close behind her, shooting everything she saw. Garrus and Tali stood by each other, Garrus picking off anything far away, Tali blasting everything that got too close with her shotgun.

"Here's another node! Shoot it!" Shepard yelled, turning to cover the group.

Tali and Garrus both finished off their targets and spun to shoot the node, Williams was already shooting at it.

A solid 5 seconds of bullets rang out from the trio, none speaking. Shepard was behind them, cursing and cheering at every kill she got. Tali turned around and looked at her, pausing her gunfire.

She almost looked like...a dancer. She danced through the massive horde of monsters, picking them off two or three at a time. Though the way she killed them was not as majestic. She either shot her fist through their chests, flung them with her biotics, or sliced them apart with a knife. Each method resulting in green goop flying everywhere, on the ceiling, on the floor, atop all the bodies and limbs, or onto her, but her barrier rebounded it, keeping her clean.

"It's going to blow!" Garrus yelled from behind.

She was torn from her thought and whipped around, only to see the giant pod exploding in front of her. It knocked her back, sending her flying, way farther than she expected. Her vision blurred, everything happened in a flash. Everything went black.

XXX

She woke up, and looked around. She was still in the same room, Garrus and Ashley were shooting at something, still near the last place she saw them.

"Hey Tali?" a muffled voice asked.

She looked behind her. She had landed into a wall of rubble, in a sitting position with her back to it. She looked up, down, around, but couldn't figure out where the voice was coming from. Something was moving under her, and two arms wrapped around her from below her. Two tattooed arms.

"Oh Keelah! Shepard!" She jumped up and turned around to see her smiling Commander.

"I'm so sorry! I had no idea, and I wasn't paying attention and I..." she reached down and offered her hand to her, which she took.

She started wringing her hands and looked at the women, her hood fell down. She still had a wide grin.

"Tali, don't worry about it. Relax. I'd be lying if I didn't enj - Oh fuck..." she reached around behind her.

"What? Shepard, what is it!?" she yelled, moving closer.

"Tali, don't panic. Seriously, don't panic." She turned around and Tali let out a scream of shock.

Her knife, her huge, bloody, glowing knife, was deep inside of her, almost to the handle.

"Shepard! No no no! Keelah! -" She exclaimed, rushing to her.

"Don't pull it out. We ne-"

"Hey you two, once you're done f- What the flying fuck!" Ashley roared, storming over.

"Williams, I'm fine, just finis -" she began to explain.

"No! Shepard you are not fine! This stupid scavenger could have gotten you killed and you're saying you're fine?" she raged, pointing an accusing finger at Tali.

"I told you before that we can't trust these damn aliens! They are going to sabot-"

The commander launched forward, hurling a kick into the woman's shins, and smoothly danced around her, pushing her forward to increase the pace of the fall. As soon as she hit the ground the commander was on top of her.

"Williams! I am sick of your bullshit! You have taken every opportunity you can to insult your fellow crew members, my crew members, my FRIENDS. I am done putting up with this shit. Get the hell out of my sight and back to the Normandy and pack your bags. We are dropping you off at the first alliance outpost I see. Now!" she roared back. She lifted Williams to her feet with her biotics, and hovered her rifle next to the exit.

Tali was about in tears when Ashley said that, but now she was in shock. Another time the commander stood up for her. She looked to Garrus, who looked back at her in confusion. Williams sprinted for the exit, grabbing her out of the field as she ran past

They just stood there for a while, Shepard was looking at the ground.

"Garrus. Get some Medigel," she said quietly. She reached back and pulled the knife out, her face contorted in pain, but she eventually returned to normal. Garrus applied Medi-gel as soon as the knife was out, before the bleeding got bad.

"Commander...are you really getting rid of Ashley?" Garrus asked carefully, putting the excess medigel away.

"I don't know, Vakarian. She can't act like this, people need to get over xenophobia. As part of the galactic community, humanity just can't afford to do that. I'm hoping that tongue lashing will get her thinking, make her get with the times. We're going to Therum to pick up an Asari. If Ash says one word about her or you guys, she's gone."

"Understood Commander." He nodded.

"What about the - What's that?" Tali asked, pointing to a pod on the wall

Another Asari popped out, falling to her knees.

XXX

"So...how exactly are you giving me the cipher?" Shepard asked, scratching her red hair.

"I will show you as I showed Saren, Commander..." She grabbed for Shepard's shoulders, her eyes turning black, "Embrace Eternity!" she yelled.

Tali watched, the two seemed to be lifeless. None of them moved, both not visibly breathing. She turned to Garrus, who shrugged. Seconds past. 10...20...30...  
They looked to each other again and then turned back to the noise.

They both turned back their gaze's back to the human and Asari, Shiala had released her grip, and fallen backwards, screaming.

"Make it stop! Goddess, make the pain STOP! Stop it, please!" she screamed.

Shepard was still staring forward, lifelessly. Garrus began to run over to Shiala, who had curled into a fetal position, Tali ran to Shepard.

"Shepard! Wake up!" She yelled, shaking her shoulders. She stirred, still not moving. Her eyes were greener than Tali had ever seen them, almost blinding to a point.

"Tali...What the hell happened to her?" she asked, pointing to the screaming Asari.

"I don't know! She just fell there and started yelling! Are you ok?"

"Yea. I'm fine. She gave me the cipher. I think she saw one of my nightmares. Actually I know she did." she said, looking at the Asari.

"Keelah...were you like that, Shepard?" Tali whispered.

She looked at her feet and began to walk over to Shiala, "I was worse than that, Tali."

"We need to get out of here. Grab her, Garrus."

AN: Alright, I will look for some person to mold Shepard to. By that I mean, what she looks like. Also, I don't think I will do a poll for the romance, I think I've made up my mind.

Am I making these chapters too short? Would you prefer it if I increased them. Most of these are 1-1.7k words. I think that's reasonable on paper, but when I actually scroll through they seem short. So tell me, more words and slightly less posting speed, or keep it as is, tell me what you think. Thanks


	13. Chapter 9 Remake

**Chapter 9 Remake -**

"I said I'm fine. What is wrong with her?" She angrily responded, pointing to Shiala.

"She's having the same nightmares you had. Which one, I'm not sure. There isn't much we can do, we just have to let it run its course. I don't know if she will be alright when she wakes up." Chakwas said, typing something into a terminal.

"Commander, you feeling alright?" Joker asked, over the speakers.

"Fine. What's up? Are we still on Feros?" She asked, hopping off the bed.

"Yes, Ma'am. Kaiden, Williams, and Nikki are helping the colonists. They should be back soon. The council also called, wanted an update." He responded.

"Did Williams say anything to you?" She asked, stepping into her quarters.

"She sprinted past me when she got on the Normandy. Didn't say anything. Why?" He questioned.

"Tali got hit by an explosion and landed on me. Stabbed myself with a knife. Not her fault, but Williams went off on her. I went off on Williams, threatened to remove her from the ship." she said, dropping onto her bed.

"Oh alright. Should I stop at an Alliance HQ on the way to Therum?"

"Don't know yet. I'm waiting to see if her attitude changes. If she makes one remark, she's gone." she said coldly.

"Just kicking her off the mission, or from the Alliance?"

"Just the mission. She doesn't have it easy, remember Shanxi? Her grandfather was the commander there. As much as I can't stand the way she acts, I don't need to lessen her reputation even more." she sighed.

"Wow. Alright. Well the Council called, you might want to call them back, Spectre." he sneered, the speaker cutting off.

XXX

"Yea. Bye." she groaned, cutting off the call with the council.

"Williams and the crew arrived a while ago. They are in the shuttle bay," Joker announced.

"Ok, thanks," she said, punching the down button in the elevator.

It was a long boring ride. She was there alone. She pulled her knife from her boot, flipping it through her fingers.

XXX

"Commander, can we talk?" Ashley carefully asked, greeting her at the elevator with a nod.

She didn't even look at Ashley, just nodded and walked away from everyone else, eyes focused on the blade. Ashley followed closely.

"Shoot." She said, sheathing her knife skillfully. She crossed her arms.

"I want to apologize for my behavior. I..." She began, unsure of what she was going to say.

"I'm not the one you should be apologizing to. Wrex, Garrus, and Tali are the ones you should be talking to. Listen to me: We both know the reapers are real, right?" She asked, looking her directly in the eyes. Ashley nodded.

"When we kick Saren's ass, I don't think they will give up. I don't know where they are or what they look like, but I know if they totally destroyed and hid almost all the evidence of the Protheans, they are very through. The council won't want to accept it until they somehow get here. Which means we, the Normandy, are going to have to carry the galaxy on our back. We need to work as a team, Ashley. Disrespecting your squad that you are going to work with until the end...just isn't going to fly. You need to make a choice. Either fix it, or pack your bags." She finished. Then she just turned around, and walked away, over to her squad.

XXX

She took a deep breath. She didn't know what she was going to say. What could she say? She fought with herself, walking further into the room until she was right behind the girl.

"Um...Tali'Zorah?" she whispered, unsure of the reaction she would get.

She turned, and jumped a little at the sight of her.

"Williams. Can this "scavenger" help you?" She spat.

Oh god. She should just pack her bags, it was over.

"I...I don't know what to say. I...there is no excuse for how I acted. I...am...deeply sorry...for my actions. I now know that we are in this for the long run...and the way I was acting isn't helping anyone. I'm not sure what else to say. I'm really sorry, Tali." she mustered out.

She looked up to the quarian, who was still leaning into the console, arms crossed.

"Williams. I agree that nothing can excuse your actions...but thank you. I'm glad you've come around. I think you should talk to Garrus and Wrex." She responded, turning back to her work.

"Right. Thank you, Tali." she whispered, walking backwards.

XXX

"Wrex. Vakarian." She said, sitting on the crate in front of the two.

"Williams." They both responded.

"Listen. I'd like to apologize for my behavior. I was stereotyping...being xenophobic...everything...I'm sorry. I...can I ask for another chance?" she asked, again, unsure of what to say.

The Krogan stared at her. Vakarian had stood up.

"Williams. It's a lot to ask. You were certainly not being...nice about...anything. But yes, we can start over. Let's hope it will be different, you're a damn good soldier, i'd hate for Shepard to throw you out the airlock." Garrus said, walking over to the mako.

"Thank you, Vakarian. It is all I ask." she responded, looking to Wrex now.

"I'm glad Shepard talked some sense into you." Wrex also got up, he stood in front of her and nodded. She thought, just barely, ever so slightly, he cracked a smile. And with that, he left, stomping over to the elevator.

XXX

"Help! Please help me!" the Asari yelled as they approached.

Garrus followed Shepard, Wrex close behind him. The Asari appeared to be floating in a bubble, behind a big shield.

They approached and the barrier and Shepard reached out, but the Asari stopped her.

"Alright. Wrex, Garrus, go down and look for a way to get through."

XXX

"So, tell me what the hell this is and how you got in there?" She asked, leaning into her hip.

"Right. This is a prothean creation, it's a shield to keep things out, a curtain of sorts. Hey - Don't touch it!" She yelled, her voice echoing through the room.

Shepard moved towards the curtain and walked through it, the area surrounding her covered in her biotics. She passed through with ease.

"What? But how? Are you..." The blue women asked.

Shepard began to speak but was interrupted by a giant explosion. She whipped around, looking for answers.

"Wrex! What the hell are you two doing?" She yelled into the comm.

There was no response, but the elevator behind her had started, and the two rolled in with smiles on their faces.

"Mining laser." they both responded.

She sighed and slammed the release button with her hand.

"That's...probably going to bring this place down. We should leave. Now."

XXX

"Surrender. Or don't. That would be more fun." the other Krogan said, the geth behind him readying their guns.

"I don't have time for this!" the woman yelled.

Before Wrex could even pull the trigger, Shepard was somehow behind the other Krogan. The geth whipped around at the same time, but she cast them all into walls with a single movement from her hand. Wrex flared his biotics and charged in to pick off anything she didn't kill. She was fighting the other krogan, in hand to hand. The other Krogan was a biotic, but couldn't handle her.

Even though Wrex was fighting off the geth with his forehead, he still watched the commander fight the battlemaster. She was playing hit and run in a way. Hit him, move around him, hit again. She almost looked like she was teleporting, the way she was moving. The geth were still being ripped apart by Wrex at the same time. She hit him in his knee with a kick and got around him. He had slipped up and tripped forward, and she smashed her fist into the back of his skull. He flew directly into the ground in front of him, but quickly rose back up.

Wrex turned around and blasted a geth's head off with his shotgun, then turned back to Shepard.

The Krogan was helpless. His geth were dead and Shepard was unstoppable. He threw a fist at her and it caught her off guard, smashing into her ribs. She didn't even look fazed by it, and she grabbed his fist and pulled him in with a green aura circling her. It caught him by surprise, and as soon as he got close she followed it with an uppercut to the jaw.

The Krogan was hurled up and away from her, flying across the room. He crashed into the wall, and left a huge indent in it. He stuck there for half a second, then crashed down to the floor in a huge thud.

"We need to move! Now!" she roared behind him.

He turned away and nodded, charging forwards as he put his shotgun away. The Asari was ahead of them all, then the turian. Shepard was urging them forward, but Wrex motioned with his hands to go. She stayed put, waiting for him. He sighed during his sprint and charged past the human, grabbing her as he passed.

"Wrex. I am going to kick your ass when we are out of this hell hole. You know that, right?" she said through all the chaos.

"Take a look behind us, Shepard!" He roared as he ran.

"Shit! Next time just say there's lava! Fuck man, run faster!"

**AN:**

**So yea. Don't really like the way I did the whole apology thing with Ashley, but meh. I thought I would touch more into it before, but I've changed my mind. Sorry folks. Concerning the romance; I think I've made a decision. Well I've narrowed it down to two. For Shepard anyway. I'm considering diving more into Nikki after the end of Mass Effect 1, and then keeping it that way for Mass Effect 2. So it would be like a 60/40% split between the two. Or something of the sort. So I also need to pick a romance for her, and I still don't know. Garrus maybe?**


	14. Chapter 10 Remake

**Chapter 10 -**

"I don't think that is a good idea, doctor. The last Asari who melded with me is still in the med-bay." Shepard said, crossing her arms.

"Why? It shouldn't have harmed her." she replied.

"She saw one of my nightmares." she sighed, shaking her head.

"Oh goddess. Well...I'm not sure there is any other way for me to see that information. Perhaps we could try anyway?" she offered.

Shepard shook her head. She didn't need two incapacitated Asari.

"How about we just wait for now. If there was a beacon on Eden Prime, there has to be at least one more somewhere in this galaxy. If we have no other choice then we can do it, but there isn't much reason to at this moment." she stated.

"Understood, Commander. Where are we going next?" Kaiden said, changing topics.

She thought for a while, unsure of what to say.

"Citadel for supplies. I've got a few errands to run there as well. Everyone can have 48 hours of leave, then we will head to Noveria. Dismissed." she finished.

They all nodded and rose, filing towards the exit, except for Tali.

"Tali, what's up?" she asked, tossing her hair.

The quarian started wringing her hands and spoke up.

"I was wondering if you could show me more about knives if that's alright, Shepard?" she weakly asked.

Shepard's face lit up, "Of course! I had totally forgot, sorry. I need to make a quick call to the council but then I will head down. You can join me if you'd like." she said, smiling.

"Thank you, Shepard. Sure, I suppose I can stay."

XXX

"Councilors," Shepard greeted.

"Commander. Was it really necessary to destroy the Prothean ruins?" The turian accused.

"Have you forgotten who you are speaking to? Experiment of the protheans? Insane vision seeing freak? Of all the people in this galaxy, those ruins are more important to me than anyone else. So yes, Councillor, it was necessary." she shot back with a sly grin.

Tali couldn't hide her smile at the retort, but it did bother her how she called herself insane freak. As far as Tali could tell, other than her episode when they first met, she was a normal and caring person.

"Of course, Commander. You are in charge of the mission." the Asari responded, lightening the tension.

"Who is this, Commander? We did not see reports of a quarian on your squad for Therum?" the salarian asked.

Shepard put an arm around Tali and began, "This is Tali'Zorah nar Rayya. She is on her pilgrimage, she helped me find, well to better describe it, she found the information on Saren and the Reapers. She is helping me track down Saren." she grinned.

"Of course. A pleasure to meet you Tali," the Asari responded. The other councillors nodded.

"Yes, thank you, the feeling is mutual, she said. Shepard removed her arm and Tali began to wring her hands.

"Well, that's it. I'll be at the Citadel soon. Normandy out." she said, giving a nod.

XXX

"Tali, here, try hitting me. Oh, don't give me that look, I will have a barrier up. Just take a few swipes, get the feeling of it." she said, smiling.

"If...but...alright. But you're sure it won't hurt you?" she wearily asked, holding the knife in her hand.

"I will be fine. Just try to avoid the neck. Don't need to mess up my tattoo there. That hurt like a bitch to get touched up. We can talk at the same time." she said, motioning with her hands to start.

Tali lurched forward with a swing to Shepard hand, but she was ready, pushing Tali's hand away to the right.

"What do you want to talk about?" she asked, swiping downwards, trying to catch her. She missed again.

"Tell me more about the Geth," She asked, moving backwards to avoid the swing.

The topic was touchy, but she knew Shepard just wanted to know more.

Tali began to swing right, but she instead brought it into a slice upward, catching Shepard off guard. It smacked into her wrist, but it didn't seem to have much of an effect.

"We created them as...labor servants in the beginning. They weren't quite AI yet, but they functioned better in groups, increasing their potential. Eventually one asked if it had a soul, which meant they were...evolving in a way." She swiped in between words, leaving little room for Shepard to move, she was blocking every hit with her hands.

"So you tried to make a race of slaves?" Shepard asked in between blocks.

She hurled her left fist toward Shepard, which she blocked, but then Tali swiped with the knife in a long step, slashing Shepard's left arm. It still had no effect.

"No. Like I said, they weren't AI yet. We intended them to be VI's, unable to think for themselves. Therefore, not a race as some people see them now." she said, stepping backwards.

"You don't see them as a race?" Shepard asked, moving closer to Tali.

She shook her head and launched forward again.

"I see them as monsters who drove us into exile. Do you see them as a race?" she asked, swiping left.

"Yes. If they can communicate with others and achieve spaceflight, they are as smart as any race we see today. What next?" she asked, while grabbing the knife blade, pushing it away.

"We tried to shut them down, we could tell the danger they posed as AI. Except it didn't work, and the geth fought back. They killed billions of quarians and we were forced to flee." she angrily said, lunging for Shepard's chest, but she hopped backwards.

"And you blame them?" Shepard said coldly, moving closer to Tali.

She dropped the knife and tackled Shepard to the ground, which caught them both off guard.

"Of course I blame them! They killed almost everyone and stole our homeworld! Wouldn't you!?" she raged. She was on top of Shepard, arms above her head, legs around her lower chest.

"No. I wouldn't. You said they were VI's before. Not able to think. So as soon as they become intelligent, they are "born". Their master's response to their birth was attempted genocide. Of course they defended themselves." she calmly said.

"No! They took everything from us! Our people, families, houses, our world!" She smacked the side of Shepard's face as hard as she could.

"Tali. I am so sorry for the loss of the Quarians. I really am. But it was the Quarian's fault. I think you know that." she whispered.

Tali couldn't believe this. She thought she had made a friend, but here she was, betraying her. She hit her again, and again, and again, but Shepard didn't stop her. She just stared.

"Why do you care? The geth are killing everyone. Why are you defending them?" Tali asked. She was in tears now.

"Because I know they just wanted peace. If they wanted to kill all the Quarians, don't you think they would have done so by now? Or even let the survivors leave Rannoch? They fought to defend themselves, Tali. They didn't leave the Perseus Veil until they found that something to do. In this case...follow Saren to meet their gods. So we stop Saren, then stop the reapers. They would go back to their veil, knowing their chance is ruined. And when all this happens, I am going to fly in there, and dock a geth ship. Then I am going to have a civil conversation with them showing the misunderstanding, and let them decide what happens next." she whispered.

Unbelievable. That is completely and utterly impossible.

"They will slaughter you, Shepard. It just won't happen." Tali said, rolling onto her side, off of Shepard.

"It's going to happen, Tali. There will be nothing stopping me." she responded, rolling her head over to Tali's.

"I'm not going to let you throw your life away, Shepard. You're the only person who has ever been any sort of kind to me outside the fleet." she said,

"You can always come with me. We could have a bet." she grinned.

How could she joke about this? How could she be so serious and just drop it?

"No...I...thank you for showing me more on the knife, Shepard." She got up and offered her hand out to Shepard, which she took.

Tali pulled her up and she lost her balance, falling into Shepard. She caught it with a hug.

"I know it's not an easy topic. Thank you for doing this, Tali. We can do this again soon." She released and nodded. Tali nodded back and turned back to engineering to think.

**AN:**

**bam!**

**I also have finally decided on the romance. For Shepard. Like 100%, no going back. I seriously can't wait for the reactions and/or hate. As for Nikki, I'm still unsure. Feel free to suggest, but I haven't really dived into her personality much yet, so maybe wait. Just a heads up.**


	15. Chapter 11 Remake

**Chapter 11 remake -**

AN: So I failed to mention this before because I just decided it, but Nikki is an N7 Shadow. Just keep that in mind. Maybe without the helmet though. Or some other helmet maybe. Yea.

"Garrus, can you go tell Shepard that we will arrive at the citadel in eight hours? I'm turning in for the night." Joker said, hobbling over to his crutch.

He nodded and rose from the copilot seat. He liked Joker. He wasn't xenophobic like the others, and he and Garrus often exchanged in venomless jokes towards each other.

"Sure. Night, Jeff." he said, leaving the cockpit.

XXX

He could hear some sort of sound playing from her quarters. It was...music? It sounded somewhat like that old old Pavalan genre. He couldn't remember what it was called.

He went up and knocked, hoping she could hear him over the music. The sound fell down to a whisper, "Come on in!" she yelled, and the music rose again.

He certainly wasn't prepared for what he saw.

"Vakarian! What can I do for you?" she yelled as the music stopped. She acted as if nothing was wrong.

He just stared at her for a while, unsure what to say.

"Well first of all, can I ask what is is you are doing?" He said, leaning into the wall.

She looked at him, then down to her desk, and nodded.

"I'm dying my hair. And cutting it. And yea. I guess it's all new to you." she said, pointing to her head. It was a weird yellowish red color, and appeared to be in the process of a cut. Needless to say it didn't look great.

"I can assure you it will look better when I am done. No need to give me that look. Anything else?" She asked, continuing to work.

"Well seeing as you're not going anywhere, what did you do to piss Tali off so much? I didn't think she would have the capacity to tackle you. Let alone be able to tackle you." he asked, crossing his arms with a grin.

She paused for a moment and sighed, but continued, "I asked her about the geth. Just wanted to see how she would react. A test. To tell you the truth I'm surprised she dropped the knife before she tackled me." she casually said, brushing her hair with a spiked object.

"So it went well?"

"I'm not sure that's the best way to describe it. I think she knows that the Quarians are at fault, just doesn't want to believe it. Well I hope that's the case." she said, cutting some of the hair with a weird contraption.

"Is she angry with you?"

"I really hope not. I don't think she is, but it wouldn't surprise me. It's a touchy topic for all quarians. She's an Admiral's daughter, even more so for her."

"I see. Well that's that then. What was the music you were listening to before I came in?" he asked, changing off the subject.

"Well. There's many ways to explain it. Let's call it EDM. Electronic dance music."

They talked about it for almost an hour. She explained the different subgenres of it, the response that some of it got, and how it died. Garrus explained a similar genre from Palavan, though he never got into it. Apparently "edm" was Shepard's favorite genre, with artists ranging from "Skrellix", to "Deadmoose", and someone named "Vorion". She also talked about someone named "Bob Monrey", who was from a genre she called Reggae. The process of naming for humans was outrageous. Impossible to comprehend.

"Hey, Shepard, Joker wanted me to tell you that we were arriving at the Citadel in 8 hours. 7 now. Almost forgot. Night, Shepard." he said on his way out.

"Night."

XXX

She walked into the conference room, and every one of them stared at her with a blank face.

"Christ, did someone piss in your guys' coffee? What?" she asked, walking to the center of the room.

"You're hair, Shepard. It's different." Tali said, still looking in awe.

"Oh yea. I dyed it. And cut it." she said, sitting down.

"And shaved part of it? It looks good, Shepard." Nikki said with a smile.

"Oh yea, that too. Never shaved it before, but I actually like it." she said, running her hand through her, now blonde, hair.

"Alright, everyone, listen up. We can talk about my hair later. You've all got 48 hours to do whatever the fuck you want. But once that time is up, if you're not on this ship, we're leaving. And...that's it. Questions?"

"Commander, are you going to be going alone? I coul-" Kaiden began, hopefully.

She cut him off, "I'm shopping with Nikki and Williams."

"Oh. Alright." he said, wandering off. Everyone else casually filed out behind him, other than Williams and Nikki.

"Thanks for that. Mind if I actually tag along with you two?" she asked, smiling.

"Of course not, Commander," Williams said, half smiling.

Shepard knew that Williams had talked with everyone, but she still didn't think that Williams would try and talk to her this quickly.

XXX

"What are you guys looking for? I'll just tag along wherever." she said, walking beside her comrades.

"I need some new straps for my armor. Those other ones are finally wearing out." Nikki said, pulling something up on her omni tool.

"Just a few weapon upgrades. Been saving for a while." Williams said.

"Alright, I'll follow you then. Let's go."

They walked for a while, looking through windows as they passed. Eventually arriving at the store they were looking for, they started browsing.

"Shepard. Look." Nikki pointed to a rack.

"Yea. So? Oh..." she said, squinting to get a better look.

"It's a cloaking field, and a damn good one at that. Almost as good as mine." Nikki said, looking back to Shepard.

"Those are illegal to non military. Hell, you're one of the only people who should have one. Track them, let's see how long it lasts." Shepard said, nodding.

"Hey you two, what're you doing?" Ashley said, walking over.

They both turned and looked to her and tried to hide their suspiciousness. **(is that a word?)**

"Just browsing. Did you find what you were looking for?" Nikki said, scratching her hair.

"Yep. New set of armor is on the way to the ship, got a few weapon mods too."

"Oh cool. Well let's head to the next store then. Don't lose those, Ashley." Shepard said, walking out, nodding to Nikki. She looked over her shoulder and the field had turned to follow.

They left the store and walked for a while. Shepard and Nikki both on full alert, though you couldn't tell that they were. Both trained N7's, it was literally impossible to know they were looking right at the field. Either through reflections or quick glances, they both knew exactly where it was. And both were ready when it approached to pickpocket Ashley.

They both waited for the exact moment, and then acted. Nikki pounced forward and swept with her leg, sending the unknown to the floor, and Shepard immediately grabbed for the throat, locking their arms into place.

The field shimmered and a small hooded girl appeared. A Fury's hood and armor, a line of lipstick on her lower lip.

"How did you...Commander Shepard? Oh..." she said in a hushed voice.

"You're the one...you're the one who took our armor!" Nikki yelled, walking over, Ashley behind her.

"Nichole...Shepard...What the hell..." the girl whispered.

Shepard just stared at her, giving her a stare filled with hate. Then she cracked a smile and stood up. She held out her hand to the women, who took it after a few seconds.

"What? Why? How do you? What?" she stuttered.

"Can someone tell me what the hell is going on?" Williams asked, scratching her head.

"Yea. A few years ago, few weeks after Shepard and I got our N7 armor, Shepard's entire set disappeared. My cloaking device disappeared. Not many people have the ability or the guts to steal from an N7, let alone two." Nikki said, walking over to the women.

"Only one person could even manage that. A thief. Perhaps the best in the business. Though maybe not the most famous. I don't know, what do you think, Goto?" Shepard asked, reaching out her hand.

"Uh...I...Wow...Um," she took the hand carefully, which Shepard shook firmly, still retaining a smile.

"Commander...Why are you not kicking my ass? That was billions of credits worth...multiple billions..." she whispered.

"Billions?" Williams whispered.

"Because. You've got a quad, as Wrex would say." She said, grinning. Kasumi was clearly lost.

"She means she respects you. And none of us had to pay for it. We both actually got new sets. But I don't think stealing from us a second time is going to fly." Nikki said.

"Um. Right. Well. Now what?" Goto said, still confused.

"Well. Yea sure. We both know breaking out of C-Sec is childs play for you. As a spectre, I should probably...break your neck or something, but I also get to play by my own rules. So just give Ashley her weapon mods back and we'll be good." Shepard said, holding out her hand.

"My what? What?! How did you?" Ashley yelled, fishing her hands into her pockets.

The girl walked to Ashley and quickly returned them, and started to back up.

"Right. Well. Thanks?" She said, backing slowly.

"And stay out of my sight, scum!" she yelled. She winked at the girl, who smiled and winked back as she disappeared into the shadows.

"What the hell is going on?! Please explain!" Ashley yelled, walking between the two.

"We already did. Got our armors, put them in the lockers, next morning they were gone. Well Shepard's was. My cloaking device was gone, looked like she tried on my helmet and armor. Alliance paid for it, apparently pulled the credits out of their asses. Only the galaxy's best thief could pull it off. We were both in the next room when she took them. She looks young though, must have been at this a long time." Nikki said, turning to continue walking.

"I...alright...just whatever. Whatever. Let's go." Williams said, shaking her head.

AN:

So if you want to know what Shepard looks like, check my profile, (whenever it decides to update)

And yea. Kasumi. Preeettty awesome. And with Ashley...meh. Just meh.


	16. Chapter 12 Remake

Chapter 12

"Garrus, It's Shepard. Are you on the ship?" she asked on her comm.

"Hey, Commander. I'm in my old apartment right now. Why?" he asked.

"Alright. I'm heading to Flux with Ash, Nikki, and Kaiden. Do you want to join us?"

"Sure. Where are the others?"

"Tali said her and Liara were going to stay on the ship. Wrex..I think he said something about pyjacks and salarians, then ran off. No clue where he is."

"Alright. I'll be there as soon as I can."

XXX

He stripped out of his armor and searched through his apartment, looking for something relatively casual. He found a black shirt and some pants. It had to do. He put his visor on and holstered his pistol. To think that something normal would happen around Shepard was impossible, so he had to be prepared.

XXX

"Vakarian! Glad you could make it!" Nikki yelled from a table. She was sitting with Shepard and Alenko. Williams wasn't there.

He walked over and took a seat next to his squad.

"What's the occasion?" he asked. They didn't seem the type to be in this environment.

"It's Nikki's birthday!" Shepard yelled, hugging her friend with one arm, a large grin on her face.

"Oh I never knew, Happy birthday!" he said, smiling at her.

"Thanks, Vakarian. 29 years old. Hard to believe."

"Here's your drinks, Oh my, Are you Commander Shepard?!" the waitress squealed.

"Man. I thought the hair would last me at least a week." Shepard managed to say, before the entire bar had erupted with people looking for her.

"Shepard! Shepard! Commander Shepard! Are you insane?" people yelled.

Garrus just watched as the legions of fans swarmed her, trying to get her to say anything. Garrus and Nikki had started moving to the exit, Kaiden and Ashley were nowhere to be found.

"Listen up! Every single one of you!" She roared.

Garrus turned, Shepard was floating above everyone, holding herself in place with her biotics.

"Each and every single one of you will get three beers on the house if you leave me and my friends the hell alone? Deal? Good."

XXX

Somehow, everyone just left her alone. People still stared at the group, enjoying their free drinks, but nobody went near them.

"Shepard, just how much is that going to cost you? That's a lot of alcohol." Ashley said, looking to the Commander.

"Dunno. I don't care honestly. I could afford to colonize my own planet and retire there if I wanted to. Don't need credits that much to be honest, Ash."

"A colony? Christ Shepard, why don't you buy anything? That's...multiple billions!" Alenko said, setting his drink down.

"Fuck, Courtney, why the hell don't you buy me better place then?"

Nobody at the table said that. Nobody called her Courtney either. They turned around to a 6'5, bulky man standing over them.

"Did you not hear her when she said she wanted to be left alone?" Alenko said, standing up in front of the man.

"Alenko, sit the fuck down right now." Shepard growled, standing up.

He looked to her and gave a weird look, but he did as he was told. He scurried back to his chair and pouted. She walked up to the man, both of them staring each other right in the eye.

"Commander Shepard." he said.

"Captain Shepard." she responded back.

"What!?" Everyone at the table yelled.

Her glare turned into a smile and the two, apparent father and daughter, hugged.

"Alenko, Williams, Vakarian, this is Captain Shepard. My father." She said, turning to the group.

XXX

"Captain? I thought you retired, Kyle. Congratulations." Nikki said, as they all sat down.

"First of all, Happy birthday, kid. And thanks." he said, sipping on a beer.

"Oh thank you! Now, how did you rejoin? I swear you retired." she said, leaning forward.

"Yea, Dad. Spill the beans."

"Well, let me clear it up for your friends," he said, nodding to the others.

"I quit the Alliance two years before she was born, then I rejoined after Mindoir. Stayed until Elysium, quit a year after that. Then a few months ago, Hackett calls me saying hes got something for me to do. So I fly over to some remote star system to talk to him in private, he gives my my rank back and the promotes me, then sends me off." he said.

"What is this mission?" Nikki asked as he took a sip.

"I can't say. I'm sorry." he said, sighing.

"Oh don't give me that bull. I'm a spectre and you know you can tell us." Shepard said, glaring.

"I...No. Courtney come here for a second." he said, standing up. Shepard followed.

XXX

"Did you know about her father, Nikki?" Ashley asked.

"Of course. He treats me like his daughter. I never knew my parents. He's the closest thing I have to a father."

"Wow. Why does Shepard seem so...angry?" Garrus asked, looking at her.

"Oh just ignore that. She's happy to see him. She doesn't let anyone see that though. Couldn't tell you why."

"He knows Admiral Hackett?" Kaiden said, looking to the man.

"Knows him!? They served together in the First Contact war. Hackett's name was just the one who got all the admiration because of it. Hell, it almost seems like Kyle's name was kept secret from the history books."

"He was in the First Contact war? Jesus Christ! What if he..." Ashley trailed off.

"If he...?"

"Knows of General Williams." she whispered, looking down into her drink.

"Alrighty. Point taken, Dad. It's classified, everyone." Shepard said, walking back to the table.

"Good. Now tell me how you managed to become the first human Spectre. Then tell me why Nichole isn't one. Then tell my how the hell you got Dave's ship." he said with a grin.

"While I'm at it, want to know what our mission is too?" She replied, leaning back.

"Sure. Why not?" he said, mimicking her, leaning back with a grin.

XXX

"Alright. So we went to Eden Prime. We were picking up a Prothean beacon, and right before we arrived, an emergency broadcast was sent out. It wasn't pretty, there was a huge ship there. Along with Geth, killing everyone." She said, shaking her head.

Ashley spoke up, "I was there, Sir. The geth came out of nowhere, started gunning down everybody. The force was overwhelming. They stuck the survivors on these...spiky things. It turned them into robotic husks of themselves. I was the only survivor of my squad."

He looked at her, staring her down.

"I'm sorry..." he said, looking up for assistance.

"Ashley. Ashley Williams." she said, sighing.

"Ashley. That's not easy. You're a good soldier. Not many people could survive against the geth. From what I gather, they are super soldiers. No pain, no remorse, precision to a hair."

"Thank you, Sir." she said, smiling.

"When we first dropped in, another soldier we had us, Jenkins, was killed. Not even a minute in. It was his first real mission too. Damn shame." Kaiden said.

"He was a good kid. We found Ashley after that, then fought through the colony. Nihlus, the Spectre we were with, was killed too. Shot in the head. By Saren. We went further, then found bombs all around an area. Big enough to destroy the colony. We deactivated them, then found the beacon." Nikki said, sipping her drink.

"As you can guess, I went to the beacon. It did the same thing that Mom said...It started pulling me in, couldn't stop it. It showed me destruction, death. It was the Protheans, being slaughtered. I passed out, they carried me back to the ship" Shepard said.

"Christ...You're sure it was the Protheans?" he said.

"Yea. After that we went to the council and said that Saren had gone rogue, which they dismissed. Along with my vision. So then we tried to find evidence, which led to us picking Garrus," she nodded to Garrus, "Tali, our Quarian, and Wrex, the Krogan."

"Tali had evidence on Saren, and she was going to give it to the shadow broker, then Fist, you know him right? He set her up with Saren's thugs. So after fighting through Chora's Den, and leaving Wrex with Fist, we got to Tali. We brought her back to the embassy and then -"

"Then she threw the ambassador into the presidium lake!" Joker yelled, limping over to the group.

"Jeff! Glad to see you're hanging in there." Kyle said, extending his hand.

"You too, Mr. Shepard." he said, smiling.

"Now what's this about tossing the ambassador?"

"He was being a racist prick like he always is. Insulted Tali and Wrex. Honestly I'm surprised they didn't arrest me. I wasn't a spectre yet." she said, grinning.

"Then we showed the evidence to the council. Which was this -" Nikki played the recording.

"That's Saren alright. The other one...a Matriarch I think? What are the reapers? And the conduit?" He said, scratching his chin.

"Tali got that from a geth data core, she got more. The geth believe the Reapers are a race of intelligent machines that existed 50,000 years ago, wiping out the Protheans. They perceive them as gods. It shows what the beacon visions were, the Reapers killing off the Protheans. Saren is trying to bring back the reapers, we think he needs the conduit to do it."

Kyle gave a blank stare, his face filled with worry.

"If I heard that from anyone else, I wouldn't believe a word of it. But...wow. So what you're saying is you guys are carrying the galaxy on your backs, trying to stop imminent destruction?"

"Yea that about sums it up." Garrus replied casually.

"Well that's just great. What next?"

"They made me a Spectre and said I was to eliminate Saren. After that...there was a flashback. Not Mindoir or Elysium, but the Protheans. It was in the Council chambers, in the same spots where everyone was standing. They were being slaughtered. I apparently passed out then the next thing I remember was waking up on the ship."

Kyle just shook his head with a sigh.

"I finished the meeting with the council, then we went to Feros. Jesus fucking Christ, Dad. That plant was..."

"Insane. That was the weirdest thing I've ever seen." Garrus said.

"Start from the beginning." He commanded.

"To put it shortly, we landed, Me, Garrus, Tali, and Williams, then we were greeted by a colonist. Geth shot him, killed him, we went to the colony. Fought through masses of geth, got rid of the geth ship that was there, came back to a bunch of possessed colonists trying to kill us. We put them all down without killing them, went down into the bowels of the colony, and found a giant, disgusting, green, fucking...plant! It was huge! It had eyes, and vines holding it up above a pit."

"The hell? Plant's aren't supposed to have eyes." Kyle stuttered.

"They're also not supposed to possess people, puke out Asari clones, and be the size of our ship either." Williams said, sipping her beer.

"Yea. It puked an Asari out, she gave some speech that I didn't listen to, then I shot her into the pit. We fought our way through, shooting the connecting points for the vines that was holding it up. After dropping the last one, another clone came out, but she wasn't possessed. She talked of a cipher. Basically, from what I got out of it, The Thorian was there when the Protheans were killed off, he observed their civilization. I just called it a he...it's a fucking plant. That's so...disgusting. Most of it was some philosophical bullshit, but the Asari clone melded with me and showed me how to think more like a Prothean? I think? It made the visions more clear. It also hospitalized her and she's seeing all my nightmares."

"Why is nothing normal with you two?"

Nikki and Shepard looked at each other, giggling to themselves.

"So then we went to Therum, picked up Liara. Garrus and Wrex found it necessary to blow up a wall with a mining laser, which brought the entire place down."

Garrus laughed and held up his hands, "In our defense...you said find ANY way to get through. There just happened to be a gigantic mining laser sitting there, and it seemed appropriate."

The whole table burst out laughing, including Kyle.

"Which then caused the entire place to begin caving in, and that didn't help when we had to fight through the squad of geth and a Krogan battlemaster. With lava right behind us." Shepard grinned. Kyle was shaking his head.

"After that, we returned here. And yup. Next we're going to go to Noveria to take care of some geth, and...hopefully Saren is there. If not... then I don't know. We might be able to get more information out of that Asari clone, but she's...still incapacitated."

"How long has she been like that?"

"Few weeks."

"Fucking shit. And I thought my mission was rough. My daughters and their squad carrying the galaxy on their backs? Christ."

They laughed some more, each throwing in jokes casually.

XXX

"It's been fun, Dad. Wish we could spend some more time together, but we need to head out to Noveria."

"I know. I wish we could too. But I swear to god, both of you," the man reached out, lifting up both Nikki and Shepard in one arm each.

"Don't go and get yourselves killed. I mean it." he said seriously.

Ashley watched as they both nodded. That was the first time, and probably the last, that she saw someone do that to the commander. The Shepards were tough.

"Come on Williams, Let's head out." The commander said, walking backwards, waving to her dad.

"Hold it a minute, Courtney. Ashley? Come here a second." Kyle said, motioning with his finger.

Her heart skipped a beat, her chest felt like it filled with lead. She slowly walked over.

"Hey. Between you and me...I think your grandfather did the right thing. It's a shame he was chastised for it. Those turians are tough, no offense, but I doubt he could have beat them. They had every tactical advantage. I knew him, you know. He's a good man." he whispered.

"The...thank you. Thank you. I'm glad...that someone agrees. Sir."

"Don't mention it. Don't call me Sir, either. Just Kyle. Be safe out there, Ashley." He patted her shoulder and turned, walking away.

**AN:**

**OHH! BET THAT STINGS LORE LOVERS!**

**No, really though. As you can tell, this isn't canon. This is my fic, so uhh. Just try to picture First Contact and such in the way I did here. Honestly, it would be a pain in the ass to do all the math and give exact dates for when everything happened in this story. So let's all just act like it works. Alright? Cool.**


	17. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13 -**

"Tali, you alright?" she said from behind her.

Tali turned to Shepard. The new, blonde Shepard. She looked good.

"Well...not really. I've been having trouble sleeping, Commander. It's just too quiet on your ship." she sighed, leaning into the console.

She gave a confused look, "Too...quiet? Shouldn't that help you sleep?"

She shook her head. "No. Well maybe for other species, but not for Quarians. On the flotilla, the last thing you want to hear is silence. Thousands of things could have gone wrong if it becomes quiet. The tech we use on the ships is just loud, so I'm very used to it. I will get used to the Normandy eventually."

"I see. Well are you busy? We can chat at the same time as you practice?" Shepard said with a grin.

"Sure...as long as we talk about something else." she said, standing up straight.

XXX

"Alright, enough about the flotilla, Shepard," she was mixing in punches with her swipes, even some kicks. Anything to catch her off guard, "Tell me about you."

She gave a blank look. Tali hoped she hadn't crossed any lines. "Well..." she began, eyes hazy.

"I mean if you want to, Shepard. I'm just curious." she said nonchalantly.

"No I mean I want to...but there isn't much to tell. Most of my history is uh...Not fun. Tali, really the first part of my life that...isn't as bad as the rest...is this. The Normandy." she said, catching punches and swipes.

"Come on, Shepard! Do you like music? What's your favorite gun? You don't need to go over your history with me." she said hopefully.

"Well. Alright fine. Music...EDM. I'll show it to you sometime. My favorite gun...well as you can tell I don't really use them. But if I'm in a pinch I would say an acolyte prototype. It's a very, very new gun, just barely functional. I fired it a few times, and it's really nice. It's meant to take down shields almost instantly, and even as a prototype it works great. Now your turn."

"My favorite gun? Well I like shotguns. I don't really know any models. Music...I'm not sure what it would translate to for humans. I will show you soon. What is your favorite type of knife?"

"Ancient Turian Kat'a-Va. It's a medium sized blade with a deep curve. It's meant for stabbing and taking out as many organs as possible in the quickest amount of time. I acquired one a few years back. Still have it, but I don't want to use it. Lot's of history in that blade."

Tali threw a punch to her ribs which Shepard blocked, but she followed with a quick kick to her skull. Shepard caught it with one hand. Unsure of what to do, she hurled herself forward, putting all of her body weight into the tackle. It was an awkward approach, but she managed to knock Shepard to the ground. Again.

She looked down to Shepard who had a sly grin.

"Why do you always get to be on top?" she said.

"Because I am always the one...who...Oh Keelah, Shepard!" She jumped up as soon as she realized what she meant. Shepard rolled on the floor while laughing.

XXX

"Normandy, state your business."

"We have a human Spectre aboard. Let us dock." Joker said.

"Normandy, please proceed. We will confirm Spectre status when you land."

"Hey Shepard, scare the shit out of them for me?" Joker said, smiling.

"Will do."

XXX

"That's close enough." the women said, gun raised.

"Something wrong?" Shepard said grinning.

"You'd better hope there isn't." the other women said.

Liara watched as Shepard flared her biotics.

"Is that supposed to be a threat, officer? Because I can easily just fight my way through Noveria. I don't like playing nice anyway." she said, walking up to the women.

The two blondes stared at each other. Both giving a glare filled with hate.

"Don't talk back to an officer, bitch. Now hand over your weapons and show your credentials." The blonde glared at her.

Shepard moved quickly. Liara didn't even see her. She was behind the women and had her arm locked up tight into her back with one arm. She somehow managed to take the officer's pistol and had the girl bent forward, leaning forward on her. She had the pistol aimed at the other officers.

"Officers stand down! Her Spectre status is confirmed! Let them through." someone said over the speaker.

Shepard stared them down a bit more, then pulled the girl up, she winced with pain as a loud crack ruptured from her shoulder, but Shepard ignored it and spun her towards her, getting close up to her face.

"Don't call me a bitch again. I'll splatter you across the walls."

She pushed her into the other officers and stomped away, biotics still raging.

XXX

"I don't think you're supposed to be in here, Shepard."

"I'm really getting sick of you, you know that? Fuck off." She said, walking up to the women.

"You know what we do to cop killers on our world, Shepard?"

"Really? I mean...really? You're dirty cops taking bribes from people and you're mad at me for killing you? Jesus christ how stupid can you get?"

"Shoot them! Shoot them!" the officer yelled.

Shepard was quick. Wrex pulled his shotgun and blew someones head off, Liara pulled another one into the air with her biotics. Shepard sprinted forward to the other blonde women. Before she even had her gun out, Shepard had grabbed her and hurled her down the stairs, following close behind.

XXX

"I fucking hate people like you, know that?" Shepard said, picking the women up by the throat.

"I'll kill you, Shepard! Fight me fair!" she gargled.

"Fight fair? Yea sure why not?" she said, dropping the women to the floor.

"Come on you whore!"

The women pounced up and threw a punch, which Shepard pushed to the side with her right arm. She held the arm in place, and hurled a punch with her left fist into the woman's chest, letting go of the arm at the same time, sending her backwards. She recovered, and charged forward, but Shepard stopped whatever she had planned with a perfectly timed kick to the skull. She flew towards the ground, smashing hard.

She crawled away and got up, but Shepard was already on her. She charged in and brought a fury of punches to her chest, battering her closer and closer to the wall. Every hit with more power, she had started breaking ribs by the time they reached the wall. The women smacked into the wall and used it for support, launching herself forward with the last ounce of energy, which Shepard was ready for, and the women charged right into her long blade. Shepard didn't move for a bit, then gradually backed up and slid it out. The officer collapsed to the ground, around the same time Wrex and Liara showed up.

"Shepard...where did you get a sword?" Liara asked, staring at the body.

"On my back. It's collapsible. Are you two alright?" she said, returning the blade.

"You missed it Shepard! Liara here ripped someone in half!" Wrex yelled with a grin, slapping her on the back.

"In half? Nice!" Shepard said, walking over to the two.

XXX

Liara, I need an answer. Are you prepared to shoot Benezia?" she said, holding the girls shoulders.

She stared long and hard, then nodded. "I don't want to Shepard, but I will. Let's at least try to talk first before we open fire." she whispered.

"Of course - Wrex, on me."

They walked into the room. It was a big room, lots of doors with the Matriarch in the center.

"Her children were to be ours. To be raised, and eradicate Saren's enemies," she shifted to the group, "I see you have brought Liara. I will not be moved by sympathy, no matter who you bring to me." she declared.

"Uh-huh, that's great," she turned to Liara and whispered, "Does she always talk like this?"

"What have you told her about me Liara?" Benezia said, ignoring the whispers

"What could I have said? That you betrayed us? That you're evil? Insane? Betrayed your own daughter? How to kill you? She doesn't need to know that, I'll do it myself!" she roared, flaring her biotics. Shepard reached out and grabbed her shoulder to restrain her.

"Not quite yet."

"Have you faced an Asari commando unit before? Few humans..."

"I have, actually. Didn't turn out well for them." she said with a grin.

Benezia turned and walked away to be replaced by Asari commandos.

"Wrex, Liara, hold off the commandos. I'll deal with Benezia."

XXX

She had her cornered, stuck in front of the Rachni queen. Both locked in biotic fields, a battle of willpower, looking for any opening on each other.

"You're no match for me, Shepard!" she roared, obviously weak.

"I beg to differ," she said, barely managing to keep her grin, slowly moving forward.

"Shepard, commando's and geth are down." It was Wrex, in the communicator. Shepard lost focus, just slightly, which Benezia obviously noticed.

She put an enormous amount of pressure onto Shepard, knowing the distraction, but she could take it. She continued forward, slowly pushing closer to the Asari. The air around them was a clash of blue and green, big bursts of energy everywhere. Anything not grounded was floating, even bodies.

XXX

Wrex made it to the top, Liara right behind. Shepard was closing in on Benezia, the Asari was shaking but still pushing, but not enough. Shepard appeared fine, slowly stepping closer. Her...hair stuff was moving around, floating. Commando and Geth bodies were circling them, smashing into the walls. The Rachni queen was staring at the fight.

XXX

She got closer and closer, then put all of her power into a pull, ripping Benezia from whatever field she was in. She ejected her blade on top of her fist, catching the Asari with one hand, stabbing her with the other.

"God dammit, Liara. I'm sorry."

XXX

"Shepard, don't fuck this up, you hear me? The rachni will terrorize the galaxy all over again." He said, grabbing her shoulders, shaking.

"I hear you, Wrex." She paused with a sigh.

"I'm doing it. Get ready to haul ass."

**AN:**

**I think I'm going to try and crank out these last few chapters. Honestly, I love Mass Effect 1. No doubt. BUT I wanted it to serve more as an introduction to Shepard's personality, and my writing style. I feel like I'm diving into it too much though. I really want to move onto the next games because I have so many ideas for them. I'm already thinking about endings for the 3rd game, even though that is a ways away. I plan on putting my own twist on that. **

**And just a question: What would you do to the ending? (for mass effect 3 of course) Was it good? Did it need to be rewritten from scratch? I ask this not because I want to twist the ending for more approval, fuck no. I plan on writing the ending the way I want to, I don't give a shit what anyone else thinks. I just want to see if my opinions are the common consensus. Pm me or review, whatever you like. And with that, Have a good day.**


	18. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14 -**

"Vakarian, how you holding up?"

He turned, looking to the voice behind him. It was Shepard, leaning on a crate. She wore an N7 hoodie and black shorts.

"What do you mean?" he asked, putting the tools away.

"I mean the mission. We're chasing after a rogue spectre who's trying to bring imminent doom to this Galaxy. Like...are you alright? Because I feel like everyone should be worried. Even me. But i'm not. I'm also 'insane'." she finished with air quotes. That was something both humans and turians did.

"Well sure, yea, a race of machines trying to destroy all galactic life is...not comforting. But I guess that's one of the things that keeps me going. Strive to stop them." he said, walked over to her.

"What else keeps you going?" she asked, leaning on the pillar.

"Hmm. My family for one. My mother, sister, and dad are back on Palavan. Sister is a bit younger than me. She, along with every other kid in this galaxy, don't need to know that things like the reapers exist. But soon they will, and I want to keep her away from that. Same with parents."

"Tell me about them. What are they like?" she said with a grin.

"Ah. Well. My sister is training to be a doctor...which I don't like." he mumbled.

"Why not? That's great!" she exclaimed, clearly confused.

"Well if we don't stop the reapers, then what if she's out in the field patching someone up and...I just want her safe."

"I see. Well she could always stick to the Citadel. She doesn't have to be out in the field you know." she said.

"Of course. I told her that, and I hope she is going for it. Then theres my dad...No offense, Shepard, but he despises the spectres. Reminds me of my old boss. I'm not sure what he would think of you. I imagine it'd be a respect for all your deeds but...No I don't think he'd like you. No offense." he said, trying to sound nice.

She laughed it off. "None taken. Not a lot of people like me. If he's like your boss, I can see his point of view. Free reign to do whatever you want and bend any laws can easily be misused, look at Saren. But it depends on how you use those advantages. But still, even in my case, I have assaulted an ambassador, killed a matriarch...and someone's mother, committed genocide , destroyed ancient ruins...the list goes on. That's just this year,"

"How is Liara holding up? Have you spoken to her?" he asked.

"I did. She's doing well...considering. I spoke with her for about an hour. She told me about her mother. She sounded...so...nice. I really wish I didn't have to do that. Christ Garrus, Liara watched me stab her own mother with a fucking sword." she sighed.

"You did what you had to, we all know that. Liara knows that too."

"Yea yea, whatever. Tell me about your mother, what is she like?" she mumbled.

His face lit up, "My mother would love you, Commander. She loves history, always wants to know more about the origins of everything, protheans, life, all the bunch. She's a history teacher."

Her face dropped to a light smile. "That's...so weird. My mother was literally, the exact same. She was a teacher for history, loved all of that. Even when she was in the hospital, she'd try and help me interpret the visions I saw. See this tattoo?" she asked, lifting her shirt up halfway.

"Yea, it's beautiful. What is it? A plant?" he asked, leaning in. Her entire stomach was covered in wavy, detailed, beautiful art. It was colorful, bright in some places, dark in others. He looked to where she was pointing, It was a pinkish white colored flower, or leaf. It looked like a branch coming up from below her waist, the leaves blossoming off of it.

"It was her favorite flower. It's native to Earth. Cherry blossom. My first tattoo. It took some convincing, but she did it herself. Well the outline anyway, had someone else color it. That was...the year that Mindoir happened." She was staring at the tattoo, following the branches with her finger.

"Tell me about her." he asked, hoping he wasn't crossing any lines.

"She was...beautiful. The most beautiful person I've ever seen. A lot like your mom, hell, they could be related with how close you described them. Though I never really got to see her out of the hospital or bed." He gave her a confused look, "Let me clarify: The reason my biotics are so strong is because she accidently found a prothean artifact. The second one of this type ever found before. It was charging or affecting or doing something to the element zero around it. Making it...insanely strong. A similar thing happened to the Asari, though everyone died almost instantly. It basically pulled her in and exploded. This...thing was near it's expiration date in a way, so it didn't kill her."

She paused for a breath.

"I'm making this too complicated. She found an artifact, it pulled her in and blew up. I was in the womb, then it infected me with biotic abilities thousands of times stronger than anything ever seen. I was born, and went along as any other biotic child would, expect way stronger. She was hospitalized after 5 years because he brain was deteriorating in a way. They couldn't cure it because they had no clue what the problem was. It was totally alien to the doctors. I visited her in the hospital every day, we talked so much. But I...can't remember most of it. The trauma from her...death, apparently." she finished, sliding down the pole to a sitting position.

"I'm...sorry Shepard. She sounds wonderful." he said, sitting next to her.

"What's it like, Garrus? To not have biotics?" she asked, looking to the ceiling.

"It's...I'm not sure, Shepard. It's normal. I mean - don't you only use them when you need to? Shouldn't you feel...normal when you aren't using them?" he asked.

"Well for someone like Kaiden, sure. But for me it's different. My body is always just...pouring out biotic energy. She glowed green, not strongly, but an aura seen around her. Like now, this is just...me. Without holding it back. I've managed to control it now, but it requires focus. A focus I've managed to keep a constant. It's weird. I mean - Look," she lifted up her hand, and moved it towards the mako and moved up. The entire tank floated up about halfway to the ceiling. She dropped her hand and it still floated.

"I shouldn't be able to do that. Hell, Kaiden probably couldn't without some luck. And he would be using all his concentration, probably frying his amp trying to keep it in the air. He's a damn good biotic. But It's just like breathing for me. I don't have an amp either, so I don't need to worry about breaking one."

"Wait, you don't have an amp? That's all natural?" he asked, stunned.

She lowered the mako and lazily looked at him. "Yea, that's all raw power. They couldn't give me an amp because I was stronger than anything they could give me. And almost every amp broke just by me touching it. In a way, I output too much energy."

"So what is your limit?" he asked.

"Don't know, Garrus. Haven't found it yet. I mean, I probably couldn't move like a Mass Relay freely. I could definitely fuck with it though. Fighting Benezia though, she was the strongest biotic I've ever fought. She wasn't much for offense, but she held off way longer than I thought." she said, scratching her partially shaved head. There was a long pause of silence.

"Nichole is with Liara now. She came in after I left." she finished.

"How do you and Nichole know each other?" he tried.

She leaned her head back for a minute, deep in thought.

"After Elysium...well. It's hard to say." she began.

"Sorry - I didn't mean..." he retorted.

"No no, It's just that after Elysium there is so much empty space. Combined with all my flashbacks, visions, blackouts, whatever, I just was spaced out for so much of it. I wasn't me. I remember key moments...and that Nikki was there for me the whole time. She took a huge risk sticking with me, she was in more danger hanging with me back then than she is now."

"I - Wow. So...you are both N7, correct?" he asked.

"Yep."

"So who would win in a fight?" he asked with a grin.

She laughed. "We don't know. I mean, of course I could splatter her against the wall with my biotics, but that's no fun. In hand to hand, she's about as good as me. Don't let her know you know that though. But even then, fighting an N7 is like suicide in hand to hand. You know what's weird? It's like our roles are switched. She hate's being up close and personal with the enemy, while I love it. It would work so much better if I was the infiltrator and she was the fury." she said.

"Shepard, Question. Why is it that in combat you seem faster than normal? It almost seems like you're teleporting?"

She laughed again.

"Well. Let me explain. They are working on implants to allow, wait for it, yes teleportation. Almost. It's so fast that our eyes perceive it as teleportation, to put it simply. The key word is working on. In theory, it's entirely possible. They just...don't know how. They need natural biotics at this point, no amps. As of now, I'm the only person who can fuel the implant enough to make the "teleportation" possible. The problem is that I overload it, like I said before. So they need someone who can fuel the implant with their biotics to a point of perfection, but not overload it. And that requires very strong natural biotics, which is too hard to come by."

She paused for a breath.

"Eventually they will find a way to do it with assistance from amps, but right now they need natural biotics to do it. They also are planning ways for it to be purely tech, but that is even farther away. That didn't answer your question though. I only learned how to last year, when I had quit the Alliance to be alone. I went across the galaxy to as many known prothean ruins as I could, just trying to spark visions of them, then practicing anything I saw. I perfected what they are trying to do with amps without one. The Protheans did it, so I can too."

"That was fucking horrible to be honest. With every vision brought a horrible migraine and I was all alone. I still practiced with it though. Nikki found me during it, and I scared the shit out of her. Teleportation is...so unthinkable I can't believe it's possible."

"How far can you teleport? Spirits, that sounds weird to say." he asked, wrapping his head around it.

"Yea it does. Not really too far, it isn't easy to do long distances. Maybe 30 to 40 feet. 50 if I tried hard enough. But up close, it's very useful. I can hit someone and go behind... uh...hold on..." she opened up her omni tool.

"What's up, Jeff?" she said, answering his hail.

"Nothing much, Shepard. Hey, Garrus." Garrus nodded with a smile.

"Sorry to interrupt whatever interspecies kinky thing you two are doing, but the council called. Apparently extremely urgent. So just try and hold off 'till you're done talking with them." he said, sneering.

Shepard fell to her side, onto Garrus' shoulder, laughing her head off. He laughed with her. Joker was Joking. Right?

"Joker, whatever helps you sleep at night," she wrapped her arm around Garrus and snuggled her head close, "I mean, at least Garrus is getting some, right?" she said grinning. It was Garrus' turn to lose it now, he fell to his side laughing uncontrollably.

"Commander, I'd ask if you didn't repeat that. Please talk to the council whenever you can. Flight Lieutenant out." He said, closing the connection as fast as he could.

"Jesus Christ that was great." She got up and offered her hand out, which he took.

"I'll cya later, Garrus. Thanks for the talk." she smiled.

"Anytime Shepard."

**AN:**

**Felt like having a chat with Garrus. I haven't put much interaction with the crew/friends in this story because I want most of that to come later, but everyone loves Garrus.**

**edit:**

**done posting for a while. could be a short while, could be a long while. idk. too much is going on on top of the fact I have no clue how to write the next part. **


	19. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15 -**

"So you're telling me that this is Saren's base of operations, there's already an army of geth in there, he's making another army of krogan AND curing the genophage, and we are stuck here?" she repeated.

"Yes, Commander. Now you need to talk to your Krogan, before he does anything to jeopardize the miniscule chance we have." Kirrahe said, pointing to Wrex.

"For future reference, It's Wrex, not Krogan." She said coldy, walking off.

"Shepard...let me come with you." Ashley asked when she passed her.

"You can watch from a - Why do you have a shotgun?" she asked, turning around.

"Commander, you really think you can talk him down?" she asked, doubtfully.

"I certainly hope so. And if I don't, I'm not going to fucking kill him, Ash. Christ, I'll lock him up until he can see reason." she said, walking over to her.

"Fine. I'll watch." she said, turning away.

"Williams, let me make this clear," she moved up and put her face right in front of Ashleys, "He can survive a bullet to the head. You can't. If you shoot him, I will shoot you. Are we clear?" she said in a cold whisper.

"Crystal, Commander."

"Good." she said with a smile.

XXX

"Shepard, I don't like this. If there is a cure to the genophage we have to save it! This is the fate of my entire people!" he said, turning to Shepard.

"I know you're upset Wrex. But we both know that Saren is the real enemy, you need to be angry with him." she eased.

"Saren created a cure for my species, you want to destroy it! The Krogan need this, you..." he yelled, but she cut him off.

"How in the flying fuck do you know what I want?" she got right up to his face, "Do you really think I like seeing the Krogan the way they are today? Do you think I like seeing what they have been reduced to? Wrex, if I could, I would take the fucking cure and run, but it can't work that way. Not this time." she barked.

"Why! Why wouldn't that work, Shepard?" he roared back.

"Wrex, listen to me. Do you really think he's doing this for the Krogan? Do you really think he wants to help the Krogan? Look at the geth, do you think he cares about them? No. He doesn't. He wants an army, a loyal force under his command. There is nothing stronger than an army of Krogan. He wants a tool to use and then throw aside when he's done. Look at the council, they used the Krogan. What did they do?"

"They sterilized us." he said back, apparently a krogan whisper.

"Exactly. Saren isn't any better, we both know that. Wrex, I am going to try my hardest to find a way to get this cure out of here, but we have to destroy the facility. If Saren retains a copy, he will breed another army."

He stared at her, thinking.

"Alright, point taken, Shepard. I don't like it, but it has to be done. But there is one thing I need." he asked with a grin.

"Yea?" she asked.

"His head."

XXX

"Knew it. The beacon is over here." Shepard said, pointing to the artifact.

"Shepard, hurry up. We really don't have the time." she said, sealing the door.

"Yea, Yea. I'm going. Guard that door."

Nikki turned as Shepard was pulled into the air, absorbing the information. She couldn't help but worry.

Seconds passed. Then after about two minutes she dropped, mouth open.

"Commander, you alright?" Garrus asked, helping her up.

"Yea I uh...I'll think later, we should move." she stuttered.

A large hologram appeared above them, Nikki walked over to it.

"You are not Saren." it thundered.

"Fucking shit! Who the hell are you?" she said, almost tripping.

"Nikki, what's wrong...the fuck!" Shepard yelled.

"You touch my mind, fumbling in ignorance." It stated.

"That's no VI. That's a reaper." Shepard said in awe.

"Reaper: A label created by the protheans to give voice to their destruction. It does not matter. We simply are." It defined.

"How could you survive that long? That was 50,000 years ago!" Garrus yelled.

"They're machines. They don't expire." Shepard said, walking to the VI.

"Correct. You have seen the destruction. We are imminent. There is no end to the cycle. The Protheans were not the first."

"Sorry to burst your bubble, buddy, but the cycle will end. It will end once I send you back to hell." Shepard said with a grin.

"Think whatever you like. We do not stop. You're destruction is imminent. This exchange is over."

XXX

"Shepard you have to make a decision right now! We are out of time!" Nikki roared, firing her rifle at the geth.

"God dammit...fuck! Fuck, fuck, Fuck! Ashley! I'm coming, I swear to god I will kick your ass if you die on me!" she screamed, charging forward.

"Kaiden, fuck I am so sorry...I am so sorry. I had to make a choice" she said mid sprint.

"It's all right, Commander. It was the right choice. I'm making sure this bomb goes off, no matter what."

XXX

Shepard was...pissed to say the least. Garrus had never seen her like this, ever. She was glowing green, hurling geth and krogan thousands of feet into the sky, or crushing them into walls. Nikki was speechless, just fighting alongside Shepard. She had to make a choice, and she made it. They fought their way down, into the courtyard where Ashley and the Salarians were. They were all hurt, bad. Shepard put a barrier around the group, protecting them while they dealt with the wounded. She held it up until Saren arrived.

XXX

"Shepard above us!" Nikki yelled, dodging the warp.

"Shepard!" Saren yelled.

"Nikki, hold those fucking geth off."

She did as she was told, turning to deal with the Geth. It was just her and Shepard, the Salarians and Ashley had gone to safety, along with Vakarian. She fired bullet after bullet, ripping through the geth with precision accuracy. Her rifle and Shotgun were both busted from the fight on the way there, all she had was her Sniper and her sword.

XXX

"Shepard you of all people should understand!" He roared, blocking every punch. She was bleeding. Some of his bullets had managed to break her barriers. She wasn't focused.

"You are fucking BLIND!" she screamed back, hurling biotics and punches. He was too fast.

"You are the blind one, Shepard! You saw how they decimated the Protheans! They can't be stopped!"

She hurled a warp right at him and moved behind him, smashing her fist into his spine. He tripped forward, but showed no pain. He moved up on her, throwing blue fists rapidly. She blocked every one and pulled out her knife from below her neck, blocking his advances with one hand.

She blocked his kick with her own leg and entangled them together, then pulled in, stabbing her knife directly into his heart and twisting. He stopped moving and she ripped it out. He didn't bleed, she was shocked at what she saw. The knife made it through his armor and chest, but it had found its way into a cavern of electric wires and tubes. She looked at him and he had looked up with a evil grin. She tried to back up but he grabbed onto her arm, pulling her back. She moved her other arm behind her, flipping her sword from it's slot and extending it in one fluid motion.

She brought the sword around and tried to hit him, but he blocked it with a bulky wrist guard and latched onto her arm that was holding the sword, now having her arms locked.

"Shepard, this was entertaining, but I'm afraid your time here is over."

She fought his grip, struggling and releasing huge bursts of biotic energy, but he didn't falter. He fought her struggles, slowly moving towards the edge, over the lake.

She looked to Nikki, she was fighting the geth off with her sword, trying to make it to Shepard, but she was too far away. There was nothings she could use to fight it, he was too resistant.

XXX

Nichole watched in horror as Shepard struggled, firing off green aura in every direction. Saren had a grip on both her arms, on the wrist of one and on the forearm of the other with the sword. She cut through the geth at a full sprint, but she felt the bullets rip through her arm. She whipped around and cut the geth's head off, and then turned back, in horror, to the screams of agony towards Saren and Shepard.

XXX

She raised the arm with the sword to a perfectly calculated angle and surrounded her sword in energy, just when they were inches away from the edge, and whipped it around in a full circle, out of her grip. The pain came quickly, almost as fast as the crimson blood following her severed arm. She screamed but didn't waste the chance, smashing her stub left of her arm into his shoulder as hard as she could, further mangling it. The sword had kept spinning, and when he let go of her other wrist, she caught the sword with her other arm. She looked up at his face and swung the sword in a practiced chop into his ribs, slicing through the wires and pipes.

The pain was too much, she was still screaming. Saren had tripped backwards from the pain as he ripped the sword out, collapsing onto his hover-board. She topped over and landed onto the pool of water and blood, clutching her severed arm, screaming.

XXX

She grabbed Shepard and ran, her blood was spewing everywhere. It was exactly like Elysium. Only the roles were reversed.

"Nikki! We need to get the hell out of here!" Shepard screamed over the massacre of bullets and missiles.

"Get moving I'm on the way!" she yelled back, activating her cloak.

She blew the head off another batarian and sprinted towards the Normandy. Shepard was halfway between the two. She looked left, right, behind her: Nobody was alive. Just her, Shepard, and the Batarians. Their entire squad was gone.

"Nichole! MOVE!" Shepard screeched.

Before she could even look around, the missile ripped through her shoulder, hurling her away. She flew, seemed to fly forever. Then she crashed onto the ground, rolling closer to the edge. She was screaming, looking at her shoulder. There was no arm, just tons of blood gushing out, and her bones were sticking out a few inches. Everything went black.

"Nikki. Nikki! Nichole!" Ashley screamed.

She looked up. Shepard was being hauled into the elevator with Chakwas and Liara. Everyone else was staring at her. She dropped her sniper to the ground and stormed over to the elevator and pressing the button.

To clarify: Shep lost her arm. Looks like there was some confusion. My bad.

**Authors note(read please)**

**So I've found a flaw in my writing/creating style. Literally, when I write these, I go off the top of my head. Done that forever. But in between when I'm not writing? I continue to go off the top of my head, and get tons and tons of ideas, which I write down. I have a huge 3000+ word note thing on my phone of ideas...all for Mass Effect 2 and 3. So after spending so much time thinking about those and coming back to this? I'm like...lost man. Because I seriously want to move the fuck on. Buuut, I still don't want to rush it. I could slam out a chapter that sums up Mass Effect 1, but I don't want that. I want to give a base to Shepard's personality and such. One thing I hate about what I've done with this is not enough crew interaction. It's just not enough, so I'm (hopefully!) going to get a lot more of that in during 2 and 3. So yea. Currently writing Pre-Ilos.**

**Man, Citadel DLC? Anyone else like that as much as I did? Hell, it's worth the money for that one scene (not spoiling) that involves...Window-Breaking? HUH! AMIRITE?**

**[mass effect 3 ending spoiler, not this story the campaign] As much as I hate to say it though, this still can't fix the ending. I mean, I'm fine with the AI/Catalyst. Just...make it like a ball of light or something, like Glyph or the such. But ignoring that, I think the biggest flaw with the ending is they flat out fucking LIED to us. Promising 16 different endings where our decisions in the previous games matter, and not and ABC choice? It's like they tried to do the exact OPPOSITE. Why does Shep have to die in 2/3's of the ending I mean really? Happy endings don't mean the end of the world(or galaxy :D). I'll stop rambling, but Citadel was absolutely amazing. 10/10 would bang. I've never laughed so hard during Mass Effect before.**


	20. Chapter 26

Chapter 16 - Read the authors note the bottom if you will.

Garrus was pacing. He hadn't gotten to see her yet, it's been 7 hours and the entire ship was a hell hole. Ashley was trying to get over why Shepard picked her, she was somewhere in the bowels of the ship. Wrex had somehow managed to get Tali, the quarian child, to drink with her, they both passed out in the shuttle bay.

Liara was helping Chakwas tend to Shepard and the wounded, they had closed the doors and windows to the med bay. Nichole was in Shepard's quarters. Garrus saw her before she entered. Her face was mixed with tears and rage.

"Garrus, get up here. We have to report to the council." Joker said into his communicator.

"On my way."

XXX

"Why do we have to?" He asked, helping the crippled man to the conference room.

"Because you and I are the only sane ones left right now. The others, sure, I can believe, but Nikki? I've never seen her lose her shit like this. Ever." He said quietly.

"Yea. This is...bad. Do you know why this is hitting her so hard? I mean, this is really fucking bad, but you've known Shepard longer than her. Why are you doing better than her?" He asked, opening the door.

"It certainly isn't easy. I mean, Jesus fuck, Vakarian, we left Kaiden to get incinerated by a nuke! Shepard is missing an arm! And you talked to a reaper!" He paused to sit down.

"You know when Nikki showed you her arm?" Garrus nodded in response, "What Nikki had to do down there, carry Shepard out, blood spewing everywhere, limb in hand, was exactly what Shepard had to do on Elysium. I saw them both, it was almost identical. People have breaking points, and when you go through trauma like Shepard and Nikki have, those points become twisted and weird. Shepard's was seeing a batarian, among others, but this is the same thing." He paused and took a deep breath, "I don't think Nikki will be affected like Shepard is. I think once she sees that Shepard is fine, she'll be fine. At least, I'm hoping for that. Anything that relates to Shepard is unpredictable."

"Yea. Yea I get it. I'm still trying to...grasp...everything. You know, as soon as I met Shepard, everything got a lot more complicated. Not that that's a bad thing, but Christ, it's an eye opener." Garrus concluded, fumbling with his omni tool to call the council.

"Yea that's certainly true...wait a minute...What did you say? Repeat that?" Joker said excitedly.

"An eye opener?" he asked, lost.

"Before that!" he said, almost yelling.

"Christ?...Oh wow. Um. Wow." he said in awe.

Joker let out a long laugh, clutching his ribs.

"I see that we're rubbing off on you." he grinned.

"I guess so. You ready?" Garrus said with a smile.

"Hell no. But do it."

XXX

"Shepard! Wait...Who are you!" the turian yelled.

"Garrus Vakarian, Sir. This is Jeff Moreau, Pilot of the Normandy." he said with a salute.

"Where is Commander Shepard? And Miss Nichole?" The asari asked.

"And why are we getting reports of a nuclear detonation? What is going on!" The salarian demanded.

"Alright, hold on. Just let us start from the beginning." Joker said, holding up his hands, a type of peace offering.

"Right, Let's begin." The Asari said.

"Might want to grab a chair. This could take a while." Garrus said.

XXX

"We met the Salarian team after they fought past the geth. They had requested an entire fleet for support. They found Saren's main base of operations, and with our ship landing, we put every AA cannon on full alert." Joker began.

"Saren developed a cure for the genophage and was breeding an army of Krogan." Garrus picked up.

"He what!? How is that possible?" The salarian screamed.

"We'll get to that. So after some planning, the salarians and our ground teams split into two, a distraction team and an Infiltration team. The distraction team was to distract and kick in the front door, while the infiltration team snuck in and took down any AA guns in the vicinity to let the Normandy land and set a nuke. The nuke was the salarian team's drive core. The Infiltration being Shepard, Garrus, and Nichole. The rest of the ground team was on the Normandy, preparing the nuke, other than Ashley Williams, who had to go with the salarians." Joker said.

Garrus picked up, "We snuck in, fought through the geth and Krogan, then eventually ran into another Prothean beacon. I never got to ask Shepard what she saw from it. But then we walked up some stairs and...spirits." he paused.

"What was it, Vakarian?" The turian yelled.

He snapped back up, his training kicking in, "You know that huge ship from Eden Prime? It's not a ship. It's a reaper. A real, live, reaper." he responded.

"We have already told you, the reapers don't..." the salarian.

"We talked to it! We had conversation with it! I recorded it!" he yelled back.

"You...Spoke?" the Asari stumbled. She looked to her fellow councilors.

"We can discuss...that...later. Continue?" She said.

"Right. After that, they disabled the AA guns and I landed the ship. Kaiden Alenko, another member of our ground team, began to prepare the nuke. Shepard, Nikki, and Garrus went out to support Ashley and the Salarians, who had gotten overrun." Joker said.

"We uh...Shepard had to make a choice. On who to save. The geth had entrenched both the salarians and Kaiden." he said hesitantly.

"Oh my...Goddess." The Asari said. The others looked to their feet, lost for words.

"She picked Ashley and the Salarians. I don't know why, you'd have to ask her. Maybe more to save, maybe so Kaiden could defend the nuke. When we got there, Ashley and I helped the salarians to safety to wait for the Normandy, while Nikki took on all of the geth by herself." Garrus said, helping out Joker.

"What of Shepard?" the Asari politely asked.

"Saren came at the...worst time. He flew in on this...hoverboard...thing. Nikki was holding off the geth so Shepard could fight him. Hand to hand." Garrus continued.

"Hand to hand? Shepard is one of the...best in the galaxy! Did she win?" the turian asked hopefully.

"No. She didn't. A live feed from her suit was sent to me as Saren greeted them. I saw the whole fight. She stabbed him in the heart, but there was no blood, no organs. Only wires and tubes. He isn't turian anymore, he's a machine."

Joker paused for a breath.

"He got a grip on her after that, she took her sword out and tried to hit him, but he blocked it with his wrist guard. He grabbed onto her forearm and began carrying her to the edge, over the lake. She fought and struggled, discharging all her biotic energy, but he didn't let up. They were almost to the edge when she...she...swung the sword in a circle, with her biotics. She cut her arm off, severed it completely, and punched him with...whatever was left of it. She dropped the sword and caught it with her other arm and swung into his ribs in a human letter U shaped slice, but it didn't do much. He dropped her and moved onto his hoverboard and flew away." he finished.

"Spirits...that's..." the Turian mumbled.

"Strength. Not many, if anyone, could bring themselves to do that." The asari stated.

"Yea. Nikki loaded her onto the Ship and the doctors are working on everyone now. It's been 7 hours, we still haven't gotten an update. Jeff and I are the only two people capable of reporting at the moment. Nichole is...not well. Her carrying Shepard to the ship was the exact same experience Shepard once had to go through. Liara T'soni is helping the doctors, Ashley Williams is nowhere to be seen. She's probably trying to grab ahold of what just happened. Mostly everyone else is sleeping, so there you have it." Garrus concluded.

"We...need...to think. To prepare. Saren must be planning an attack on the citadel, he's got nowhere left to run. Contact us tomorrow with an update. Council out."

AN:

**I know absolutely nothing happened in this chapter, but I wanted to get something out. I certainly haven't abandoned this story, in fact, I think about it every day. Just the things I think about are not Me1 related, and I'm kind of at the point where I need to decide who Shepard's going to romance(which I finally have, and it will make a lot of people happy). That's one reason, another would be that I didn't want the first game to be 20 chapters, I wanted like 5, but I clearly failed at that. I wanted it to introduce Shepard and her character, and briefly touch on the events to show how she handles things. So theres that. And finally: I just can't keep focused on one thing for a long time. I have an AMAZING plot/story to go through after Mass Effect 3. Big enough to pack into another 3 games even. Well that's what I'm going for. I've put so much thought into that, the second game, who to romance, and with that, I just can't focus on RIGHT NOW.**

**And finally, I think I might rework these chapters. Not like drop this story, but condense. Make it smaller, less chapters. Just to get the introduction I was going for with Shepard. Tell me if you'd be okay with that.**

**Cheers.**


	21. Message to followers

So I don't know if theres like a button or something to send a message to the followers of a story, but if there is, I don't see it. So I'm doing this. yolo.

FOR THE FOLLOWERS OF THIS STORY: 

_I have picked it up again in a new story, on my profile. **PLEASE** check it out._

_I'm going to leave this story up so people can read it, but know that it I don't plan on picking it up again from where I left off. Everything is explained in the first chapter on the new story. _

_Cheers._


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